I Will Fight for a Heart
by ChocoLalaLandGirl
Summary: What is love? I've heard that word so many times, but it's hard to understand with an ignorant Dad and a life on my own. So if I don't GET it...how do I give it? Eventual Sonamy; sorry title's so crappy
1. Prologue

**Hello internet population who was smart enough to click this story! It's my newest one and I really hope it turns out as good as I think it will! I was going to wait till I'd written ahead some more, but I had the next two chapters done and I figured I'd drop out the prologue here to see everyone's first opinion!**

**A few quick notes:**

**YES this will be a Sonamy (I find myself incapable of anything else at this point), but it WILL tak a few chapters to introduce Sonic into the story. So if you'll be patient with me until then, I promise it will be worth it!**

**I know, Peter's dialogue will be kind of hard to read in this chapter, but it's just for this one, so yeah. Just try to read it how it's spelled for him.**

**Story is written in Amy's POV.**

**I love reviews and please try to leave them after this chapter. **

**Thanks for reading my note and a shout out goes to my first reviewer (along with anyone else who I feel may deserve it)! I'm wide open with suggestions and enjoy the first chapter/semi-back-story! XD**

**Prologue**

It was cold considering the fact it was March. It had just rained, leaving the thickly clouded city air damp and sticky, but at the same time icy harsh. It was times like this I almost decided to go home. Just almost. But rather than facing my father and all his druken fury, I just stuck my hands deeper into the pockets of my black fitted fake-leather coat and braved the chilly wind.

It was pretty dark, but I wasn't sure if it was from the dark gray clouds or the time; different time-zones, different season, different city...my watch was pretty useless right now.

We'd just moved (again) from the suburbs out into another big city, probably at least on the top five biggest we'd lived in that I could remember. We never stayed in the same place for too long, my Dad and I. He'd never told me the exact reason, but I had plenty to go by. There were a lot of things I'd had to just figure out on my own. Some of the reasons for our constant travel, however, I had been making a mental list for since I was four.

Daddy gets bored in the same place for too long.

Daddy has to keep moving for his job.

Dad needs different towns with different people. Different women.

Dad's on Robotnic's good side, but if he starts getting too well known in one place he might draw unwanted attention.

He's running away from something. Maybe someone.

As for his job, my dad was a small-time singer and guitar player, mostly for bars around Mobius. He always said it was the best place to be in the music industry because you get all the perks of any famous stars without all the unwanted attention for the press. I think his main reason was that it was an easy job for picking up girls. Anything from bar maid sluts to over-stressed mom's who don't know what they're getting themselves into.

Whenever it happened to be the latter extreme and his girlfriend of the week had kids, he'd often arrange for them to come over to our place so that when the lady found out about me she wouldn't be outraged when I came into the picture. I'm sure it wasn't to give me a sense of socialization; if he wanted that he'd just stick me in a school with all the other kids.

When that happened before I would always try to warn the kids about what my Dad would do. If I did get through and they told their parents, it's not like any of the moms would believe them. "Oh, they're just nervous because I've started dating again," they'd say. Sometime I wondered if adults had any respect for us kids at all.

But I guess I couldn't complain; I could ignore all the hellish shit at my house as long as I had the freedom to leave whenever I wanted...and freedom is exactly what I had. More than my dad would ever know; that was for sure. Dr. Robotnic was the self-acclaimed dictator of Mobius, causing mayhem and robotisizing anyone who couldn't comply to his every command, but he wasn't a problem for my father or me.

With Dad's job, he could afford to pay the high taxes on the cost of living and was actual "friends" with the evil scientist, so he didn't cause us any harm, so long as we remained under the radar and didn't cause any stir amongst the populous. That was my secret rebellion.

I was a deeply in cover freedom fighter. So deep in fact that I hardly participated in any fights in the war against the robots. Mostly it was just in my head; the fact that if it came down to it, I'd abandon my life in a heartbeat to fight his forces. On the other hand, though, I'd been of use several times getting real Freedom Fighters out of trouble with the robot police just by proving my rightful place of citizenship among the few Robotnic didn't penalize.

We had come to this city just about a week ago and I had found it to be very brutal. The people here were either robots or stone cold muggers who wouldn't hesitate to punish a seemingly defenseless 16-year-old girl like myself for the stupid mistake of wandering the streets alone. That's why I kept my money stuffed down in the toes of my over-sized combat boots, my head low with my pink quills covering my face, setting off the image of some bad ass that didn't want to be messed with and you _shouldn't_ mess with, and, as always, my piko piko hammer ready for summons. _That_ was my defense.

The streets were more or less unoccupied anyway; no one wanted to be out in the dark as a chill set over the gloomy wet streets. That's why it seemed so strange to see a little hedgehog boy running frantically towards me down the street. 

He slipped on a puddle just a few feet from me and fell hard on the cement. He struggled to get up and tried to keep moving, but he had an obvious limp. He was a very small boy, so I moved forward and helped him up. 

''Why are you running down the streets alone? It's cold and awful out. Where are your-'' I began, but the boy interrupted me. 

''Pwease help me! I have to get away! If you help me hide, I pwomise I'll-AHHH!'' he screamed and I followed his gaze to see a dark metaled, red-eyed robot, poised to fire a laser at him. 

I don't know why, but I felt protective of the boy, though I didn't even know him. He looked at me with scared, pleading eyes that compelled me into scooping him up and running. Of course the robot quickened his pace to follow, but I was much faster, even with the small child's added weight, as a ran carefully across the slick sidewalk. My combat boots pounded against the ground and I heard the wavering drone of the robot slowly fading, but I kept running until we reached the outskirts of town, holding just a few apartment complexes, but not quite the projects vicinity of the city.

I set the boy down in a strip of grass behind some of the apartment fences, the only place even close to the city with anything naturally green, and gave him a long hard look. He stared up at me with big blue eyes, almost purple actually, and his face fluctuated from a confused look, thankful smile, and around to a longing sort of sadness. 

''T-tank you f-fow-'' he stuttered in a small, young voice. 

''Why was that robot after you?'' 

''Because I was wuneen away again, but pwease don't make me go back! I can-'' 

''What's your name, and how old are you?'' I asked, shocked at how a boy so small and young could cope with the concept that even I, a 16-year-old girl living where I was unnoticed and unwanted all the time, couldn't find the strength to do. 

''My name's Pether Fidder, but I don't have anothew name; just dose. I think I'm fow, but I haven't ast in a few weeks.''

''Peter Fidder?"

He shook his head and tried to say the word around the lisp in his still-developing language. "Fii-d...d-d-s-st...you got the Pether wiyt. But my udder name id Fii-ster."

"Fisher?" I guessed and he nodded. "Where were you running away from?'' 

''The orphanage down on 42nd; I've lived dhare all my life, but Mr. R-427 said I couldin anymore because I'd nevew get adoped. He said I couldn live dhare because I was too much twuble and he would kiwl me!'' 

''Is R-427 that robot who was chasing you? Is he in charge there?'' 

''He is bote of dose, well now he is. The other lady who worked dhare died and he was dhare to take ovew, so he had to be dhare fow fuw days while da weepwacemen came. Dhare awen't a wot of kids dhare and I'm dah onlwy one ower dan two, so he said I had doo weave,'' the boy said, big fat tears now rolling down his thin face. ''I...I have no ware else to go! I've nevew had a Mommy oh Daddy an...an he said he w-would kiwl me!'' he cried. 

I took him into my arms and wiped the tears from his face, ''shhhh, shhh, don't cry.'' I said, but he was still blubbering, ''Hasha-hasa,'' I whispered in a comforting drawl; I wasn't sure where the words came from, but I'd always had them. Like some baby language I had never forgotten somehow, ''hasha-hassa-shhhh. You'll be okay.'' 

''No I won't; I'm aww awone wit nobody t-to take caywe of me.'' he said, having calmed his sobs by some of the magic that flowed through my fake words. 

''I will take care of you. I will do as best I can to, but I can't promise you everything. I don't think I can give you a school or a real home, but I'll do everything I can for as long as you need until you find a real Mommy.'' I promised, not even sure where I had gotten the idea to think, much less say the words!

I could barely take care of and manage myself alone, but a four year old boy? I must have been losing my mind! It was just...there was just something about him...something I felt like I had to protect. 

''You wiw?'' he sniffled, wiping away some of the blobs of tears still stuck to his face. 

''I will.'' 

''What's yow name?'' 

''Amy Rose. I don't have any other names either.'' I said. 

"Well, this is my house, I guess yours now too. I have to tell you, though, that there are some VERY important rules, okay? Are you good at following rules?"

"Yes ma'am. The rules at da orphanage were vewy stwickt, so I'm good at fowowing dem."

"Alright, well the first rule is that you don't call me ma'am, okay? You have to promise me that, even though you'll have to listen to me, we're going to be friends and I can't be a 'ma'am' if we're just friends," I said, for what was probably the first time ever saying "friends" in a sentence referring to myself.

"Okay; dat's much more nicer," he said with a smile.

"But even more important than that is that I live here with my dad, but he can't ever EVER find out about you, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because if he knew you were here, we'd both be in very big trouble; you'd have to go back to the orphanage and I'd never be able to see you again," his face fell and eyes widened and, despite his age, I knew he understood.

"That's the only very important rule, but other than that is just that you'll have to check with me for everything! If you're hungry, you tell me and I'll get you something to eat. If you're tired, tell me and I'll get you to bed. If you want to go somewhere, always have me with you unless I tell you otherwise and if you need to go potty...you're allowed to go on your own if you know how, but make sure you tell me first anyway."

"I can go potty by my-delf," he stated proudly.

"That's good! Just you have to tell me first so I can make sure my dad isn't in the bathroom; we don't want to walk in on him and he never locks the door, but I think it should be fine most of the time. He's usually not here, but when he is we'll have to be very careful. Also, I like to leave the house a lot, so you'll have to be willing to go places with me everyday because I can't let you stay here without me. Is that okay?"

"Okay; I love going places, even if it's the same place a lot."

"Me too," I smiled. "Well, that's about it for rules, but if you have any questions just ask me, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now that we've got that out of the way, we can get down to some other things. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, I'm _vewy _hungy! I'm hungy a wot," he said, nodding vigorously.

"Okay, well what do you want for supper? We can order in or I'll cook something; whatever's your favorite since it's your first night here."

"You mean I can weally chood what food we can eat?" I smiled and nodded, trying to hide the sympathy I felt for his simply sparked excitement. "But...I don't know. Could you tewl me a few tings?"

"Well, I can cook mashed potatoes pretty well; that with some kind of vegetable and...I guess meat if you like it or fish or something, but I'm not quite as experienced with that sort of thing. I could cook it however you like it though and it might turn out pretty good. Or if you want us to order something we could have pizza, Chinese, Mexican, whatever you like!"

"Well...I twied Chinese once and it was yummy!"

"That's cool! Do you like spicy things or salty or not that much taste at all?"

"I like salty stuff da best as long as I can have sumteen to dwink," he said, seeming less and less shy by the indication of his brightening tone.

"Of course! Now, there's a few more things we need to get out of the way too. You'll need some new clothes and things, but we'll do that tomorrow. For tonight I'll let you use one of my old T-shirts to sleep in, but before bed you're going to need a bath."

"Oh..." he sounded slightly disappointed in this.

"I'll start the water and we can get you in and out after I call and order the food. After that we can both go ahead and relax for the night, okay?"

"Okay."

The tub was filled about three quarters of the way with lukewarm water and dinner would be here in about half an hour. That was just enough time to get Peter cleaned up. I got him out of the dirty, raggedy clothes I had found him in and finally forced him into the bath. With much less protest on his side than I expected, I was able to hold him down in the water long enough to clean up. He had a soft orange colored hair, which was about three shades lighter than the dirt brown it had been before the bath, and fairly dark skin, compared to my pail complexion at least.

It was obvious he hadn't had a good cleaning in a while, since I had to drain the tub once just to rinse him off. Finally, though, he was sparkling clean and smelled much fresher than before. I got him one of my T-shirts, which was baggy on him but just fine for a sleep shirt, and heard the doorbell ring just as I was helping him get re-dressed. I jogged over and paid the delivery guy for the food, closing the door without making eye contact or any speech except "keep the change".

"Don't you feel all better now that you're all squeaky clean?"

"Mhm," he answered as we ate our noodles from the little take-out boxes.

"And you look much better too; such a handsome young man. Your hair is such a nice color," I complimented and he beamed happily with a long noodle slipping between his lips. I couldn't help but smile back. I don't think I've ever smiled before.

"Do you know what cuwer it is? Some people told me it was owange and some people told me it was a difwent cuwer," he said.

"It's kind of in between orange and yellow; the color's called peach."

"Pethe?" I gave him another smile and he returned it, showing all his tiny off-white teeth. "It sounds wike my name! Peether Pethe! Well when I say it it does."

"Maybe I should call you Peach as a nickname," I suggested.

"Yes! I've awways wanted a nickname! Pethe id a weewy good one!"

"Okay, that's what I'll call you then," I decided.

The door to my room opened left off the short hallway of our two-bedroom apartment. The room itself was nothing special; fairly small but spacious due to my lack of belongings.

Straight across from the door was a window that opened out to the fire escape, my main getaway if I felt like leaving at night and didn't want to risk passing Dad's room. To the right of the door was nothing but a wall with a small closet in which I kept the boxes with all of my clothes, since I didn't want to bother unpacking and putting it all in a dresser if we'd just be out of here again in a few months. The rest of the room was to the left and mostly just floor space.

I didn't have a bed, just a mattress up against the wall with the door. It had several faded comforters and a few pillows. There was a little table across the room from the makeshift bed that had a small TV and a laptop underneath it. Neither were ever really used, but they were there just in case. There was a floor heater pushed into that corner as well, though it was currently unplugged. Between the table and window were a keyboard piano on a stand, an acoustic guitar also on a stand, and a chair.

There was nothing else in the entire barren room, but Peach's face lit up contentedly as he took it in. I explained that this was where we'd both pretty much live and that he was never to leave the room unless he had my permission as long as we were here. He seemed happy to comply.

I turned on the TV and found something for him to watch while I got ready for bed, taking the long folded T-shirt from my mattress with me to the bathroom. I switched out my clothes for it, washed my face and brushed my teeth and then froze just before I could leave the room. Not that it hadn't been on my mind the whole time, but it seemed like such a quick hard blow when realization struck me dead in my tracks.

What had I done? Why or even _how_ would I think all of a sudden that I could bring this little boy home and expect to take care of him? It was hard enough to manage myself and Dad, but...how could I? I would only be ruining his life if I tried to keep him here! My legs moved automatically back to my room and I stood in the doorway just staring at him.

He had such a tiny body, both small and thin, and seemed so fragile. I imagined him in his ratty old clothes with the smudges on his face and dirt clumping his hair and saw the memory flash through my mind of him running down the street. Running from someone who wanted to kill him for no good reason! Always running. Just like my father forced me to be.

That's when I knew for sure he'd have to stay. That I HAD to protect him! That I'd give my own life to do it if that's what it took! I knew I wouldn't be the most qualifying caretaker for him; that I couldn't give him the perfect life that I'd only ever dreamed of, but I'd be the best for him. And he'd be best for me too.


	2. Bye Bye

**I'm baaack! With another fabulous chapter of my biggest newest story! XD When I posted the first chapter I made I personal goal to get three reviews before I did the second, and they all three came OVER THAT NIGHT! You guys rock :) The only reason I put off the update an entire week was because I always like to have a few chapters written ahead of what I have published, just in case I ever need to update and I'm short for time. So I finally wrote out another chapter last night so I could post this one :) **

**Just to let you all know, I think I will be posting a Lucky Star story later today. I finished watching the anime series earlier and now I'm obsessed with this idea I got! It'll probably just be a short one, so it won't take time away from this story, so no worries! And if any of you are familiar with that show (having read the mangas is not required since I haven't either :P) then feel free to check it out! It's gonna most likely be a one or two shot about Akira and Minoru, just because I LOVE how much they hate each other! I'm addicted to that kind of thing...but I still haven't written any Shadamy storied...hmmm... IDK! XD**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks to PriscillaRouge (my first reviewer) and all others who take the time to comment! You guys rock my socks off! (Which is tricky since I only wear knee-highs :P)! XD**

"May-mee, what's going on?" Peach asked as I scoured the house, trying to get things together.

"We're moving, Peach," I told him.

It had been an entire four months already since I found him. Peach now had his own nickname for me, May-me, which I guessed was sort of a cross between Amy and Mommy. He had gotten much better at talking and filled out his old stick-like form a little bit. He was still very small, but now at least wasn't malnourished. We had stayed in the apartment for this long, but dad had just dropped the breaking news in a midnight text message:

Leaving tomorrow, I'll be working until then. B home at 6 and then I'll tell u where. Pack

That was all it really took to completely put me ill at ease. I knew that we'd be leaving eventually and I'd been trying to figure out what to do about Peter when we did, but now that the time had come I felt very shaken.

"What do you mean?" he asked so innocently that I stopped my bustling and collapsed on the sofa for a moment, pulling him into my lap.

"We're leaving this place and we'll go to another one somewhere else to live. Me and my dad move a lot, but you don't have to worry."

"When will we be back? Do I need to bring some clothes?"

"We won't be coming back here. We take all of our things and go find a new place to live. We'll stay there for awhile and then probably move again after a few months."

"But I like it here! Why do we have to move?"

"For a fresh start so we can see what a new place is like. It may seem a little big and scary, but you'll get used to it. We'll be in a whole new city or town and we can have more places to explore and learn."

"What about the library?" he asked, not surprising me by being his first question since he had taken a huge interest in the childrens' department and even learning to read a little.

"There will be another one just like the one here, maybe even bigger! We'll just have to find it."

"Okay. So what do we do?"

"We have to pack everything up and when my dad gets home then we put it in a truck and take it all to the new place."

"Where's the new place?"

"I'm not sure yet, but it might be a very long ride. I don't know how we can get you in without Dad seeing you though," I admitted.

"You won't leave me here, will you May-me?" he asked, his eyes welling up with tears.

"No no, baby! Of course not! I might have to hide you in a box for awhile; do you think that would be okay?"

"As long as it didn't hurt me," he agreed, brightening at the idea of hiding in a box for a car ride.

"It'll be okay."

As it turned out, things were okay. Dad told me where we were moving and rented a truck for the move. He put all of the big furniture in it and hit the road. I would print some directions and leave the next morning with everything packed in his blue Porsche. It was a nice car and this would be the first time he'd trust me to drive it, but I was 16 after all and he must've figured it would be easiest that way.

We, or rather _I, _would meet him at the new house either the next day or day after and finish unpacking while he went to find some new places where he could be employed for a few shows a week. Usually he'd do anything from a song at the bar to live music for a club to opening for some bigger band, recruiting a few other instrumentalists if necessary, so he'd be pretty busy the next few days. After that would re-begin the tradition of choosing some _lucky_ lady from the audience to be his slut of the week.

Peach, thank goodness, had been kept away from all of that by yours truly. Any girlfriend with kids would leave them at our apartment when they went out, but I could get away with being the anti-socialist who hid in their room the whole time, so it worked out pretty well. Any nights that _just_ the woman came home with Dad I would make it a movie theater night or glow golfing or something to keep him protected from the world I grew up in called hell.

Everything was going alright so far.

It was about 6 am the next morning when I woke up to my phone vibrating against the cardboard box next to my sleeping bag. Peach had shared my floor mattress with me ever since I took him in and last night, for the first time, I had put him in his own sleeping bag in my room while I slept in the living room, leaving only after I was sure he was asleep. The plan was to get up and finish loading the car before he even woke up, but it turns out he must have gotten scared in the middle of the night, waking up and finding me gone from the room, bringing his sleeping bag out next to me.

I reached over and tapped the screen of my phone to stop the slight buzzing noise and got quietly up. Peter did little more than turn over; he and I usually didn't wake up until 8:30 at earliest, so he might stay asleep anyway. I slipped my keys into the pocket of my sleep shirt and grabbed the first three boxes from the stack by the door and pushed the door opened with my foot.

In the silent of the sleeping apartments it felt like a different world entirely. I crept to the elevator and took it down to the parking garage, just below the ground lobby that I hadn't been in or out of in probably months, since I much preferred the fire escape in my room. Balancing the twenty pounds worth of boxes against my right hip, I unlocked the car and shoved the boxes into the tiny trunk, filling it half way on just my first trip down.

Since the garage was empty and locked anyway, I left the car opened and ran back up for more boxes. Within the next four trips, I retrieved all of the remaining boxes from the apartment and filled up both the trunk and floor and seat of the miniscule backseats. It was a sleek convertible, but what it had in style it lacked in size. Yes, that made it very fuel efficient, but moving was a total pain in the ass. Thank goodness Daddy had taken his motorcycle in the moving truck; I think it probably would have tipped this car over if we had to strap that to the back as well.

Finally, I went back up and got Peter, carrying his half-asleep tiny body down and setting him in the passenger seat of the car.

"Wait here, okay? I'll be right back, Peach."

"Mhm," he moaned, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

I sighed contentedly and took the stairs up one floor to the main lobby, where a few residents of the building were now sipping coffee, hurrying out onto the awakening city, or just chatting. I approached the front desk where the building manager sat tiredly reading a newspaper.

"Yes, may I help you?" the shrewd turtle asked, looking down skeptically at my pajamas. I didn't care; I'd much rather be in fuzzy pants and a half shirt for the long car ride then uncomfortable clothes that would end up riding up or sticking to me when the afternoon heat rolled in.

"Yeah, I'd like to turn in my apartment key; my dad filled out the paperwork last night." I said as professionally as I could. His eyes widened slightly, probably just now realizing I actually lived here.

"Yes, alright. What is your father's name?"

"Blake Rose," I answered and he pulled up our file on his computer.

"Apartment 6E?" I nodded and handed him the key with a red bandana still twisted around the top. "Will you please take off your, um..."

I nodded and untied the makeshift key chain as he took it.

"Thank you and I hope you enjoyed your stay here with us."

"Sure," I mumbled, giving a halfhearted smile as I went back to the garage.

I got back to the car, put the key in the ignition, and pulled out of the garage into the beginnings of the horrible wreckage called morning traffic. Peach was half asleep, his head bobbing over as he tried to stay awake with no such luck. We inched along in traffic and I finally stopped for a long awaited cup of coffee at a drive through place at the edge of town, just before getting onto the interstate.

After about an hour, I got off an exit, not really sure where, and drove through the random town we'd wandered into. It was no where near a city, but had so many hotels and parks that I was sure it was some kind of tourist attracting place. By now, Peach's eyes were opened at least, though I could tell he was still tired because of his unusual silence.

"Are we here?" he asked, noticing we had gotten off the interstate.

"Not yet. Are you ready for breakfast?" I asked, and he nodded enthusiastically.

I smiled and pulled into a waffle hut sort of place next to a ridiculously huge hotel. There were a few half sleeping people inside, so neither of us felt too out of place in there with our sleep clothes on. Peach got scrambled eggs and bacon with toast and orange juice, lavishing in the ability to order some sort of meat, since I hardly ever cooked it for him. I had waffles with strawberry syrup and a mocha latte, only able to finish half of the enormous plate! I let Peach, the bottomless pit, pick at the remains until even he was stuffed, though there was still a quarter of on of the two waffles left, now mushy from the soaked-up syrup.

I paid with the credit card my dad lent me and we got going again after I checked the map. By the time we got back onto the road, the day time July heat was beginning to roll in. Rather than the AC, I put the top down on the car and let the wind blow through our faces, ignoring the fumes drifting past back on the interstate. This seemed to cheer Peach up a little, seeing as how he still seemed worried about the whole idea of moving.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay, ya know," I mentioned and he turned to me.

"I've never been away from that city," he said, catching me off guard.

I had already known that was where he'd lived his whole life, but...I guess I was just now realizing the significance of it. I'd been so many places in my life I guess the concept of staying in one place seemed foreign to me altogether. I stole a glance off the road at him, only to find his eyes full of wonder rather than sad, as I had expected.

"It'll be okay," I assured him, eyes back on the road just in time to change lanes away from a speeding corvette. "Are you excited, scared, nervous, happy, what?"

"A little of everything. I'm happy we get to go see a new place; it'll be an adventure! But..."

"But what?" I asked, curious.

"But...I kinda wish I could say bye bye to the city, so I won't miss it."

A smile spread across my face involuntarily, an action that had only become familiar in the past few months. It made me feel warm inside and a chill run up my back at the same time. I pulled over into the lane to my right, another lane over, and finally off onto the side of the road, hoping my half-idea would complete itself soon enough to carry out.

"Come on," I prompted as he followed me to the side of the car, where I opened a box on the floor with a small pocket knife.

"What are we gonna do?" he asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

"We're saying goodbye," I told him, pulling out a handful of different colored bandanas that I'd been collecting pretty much my whole life.

I'm not sure when exactly I started, but whenever I saw a bandana in a store I would always buy it, even if it was the same as one I already had. Bandanas weren't that common, anyway, but the collection had about 20 or 30. I held them out to him and he pulled a lime green spotted one from the big clump in my hand. I chose a red and blue one and stuffed the others back in my box.

"What are we gonna do?" he asked, following me a bit away from the car to a line of trees a few yards away from the traffic.

"You've seen how on those movies and shows people will always wave a hanky or something when a ship pulls out of port to say goodbye?" Peach nodded happily. "Well we're going to wave these bandanas and then let them go when the wind comes by to let them blow away and stay here in the air." Okay, so it probably wasn't the...best way to say goodbye to a town, but it was original and, hey, it was a two second idea. Cut me some slack!

"Okay!" he agreed, already flailing his bandana wildly. I joined in, both of us ignoring the honking cars and people yelling to us, even though we were turned _away_ from the road.

Finally, a HUGE gust of wind came, carrying the colorful cloths out of our hands and above the tops of the trees to the side of the road. Peach jumped up and down cheering and I began laughing with him. A few more cars honked, but we kept laughing, not caring what they thought. It was probably the boldest thing I'd ever done so publicly. And it felt pretty good.

**Review to make me feel that good! ;D**


	3. Open Eyes, Closed Arms

**Heya! Sorry it took so long to get this up, but my laptop is being a bitch and I haven't been able to really do anything on it :( I'm hoping to get it straightened out this week, but until then I'm just able to do a few things on it, so yeah :/ Plus, I'm afraid that when we get it fixed I'll lose all my documents (since I pretty much have to buy a new server to log on with) so I'm not writing any for now; just posting the ones I have done until it's all straightened out. **

**Thanks to those who review, but I only got one review on the last chapter :O That was kind of disappointing, but I'm guessing it was just with a lot of people away for spring break. Anyway, I hope to get more feedback this time. Hope you enjoy the chapter! :)**

**Chapter 3:**

After a full day of driving, a night spent in a motel somewhere a few hours away, and another half day of driving, we finally got to the town listed on my directions. It wasn't nearly as big as the city, but it wasn't a small town either...probably about a 40,000 population sort of place whereas the last city topped over 200,000. It was well equipped with several stores, enough gas stations for every third car there to have there own, probably, and, as I had noticed on the drive through it searching for the right street to turn down, plenty of places for my dad to work. The size, however, posed the problem of reputation. Daddy didn't like staying anywhere for long enough for someone to actual recognize him, so we probably wouldn't be able to stay for too long.

I explained that to Peach and pulled over a few blocks before the new house to get him hidden so Daddy wouldn't see him. Somehow, we were able to put two of the boxes from the trunk in his seat and stuff him in the _very_ back of the trunk, covered by a thin blanket so he would be unnoticeable but wouldn't die of heat. I left the trunk open with a few bungee cables holding the things in as well.

I pulled into the parking lot and up to the right lettered apartment section. We'd only lived in a few actual houses, since it was easier and more efficient to get an apartment anyway. I noticed Dad's moving truck parked a few spaces over and half of it's furniture unloaded, mostly just the big things. The kitchen table was even still outside, leaning against one of the rails about three floors up the staircase. Okay, sneaking out just got a little trickier, but definitely not impossible.

Dad came out the open door up there with his shirt slung over his neck, looking sweaty. I hadn't really talked to him face to face in a while, so I put on a smile and tried to act natural.

"Hey Daddy," I greeted and he gave me a half smile.

"Hi Amy...have you gotten taller?" he asked, looking me up and down thoroughly.

"Maybe; I haven't measure in a while," I shrugged. He'd gained a little weight, but he was still tall and lean with his sleek black hair, despite the very scarce gray hairs popped up across his head. He had always been well-muscled and naturally handsome, one of his many advances towards the choice women he wanted.

"Well, did you check out the new town a little on your way through? I think it'll be pretty okay for a while," he said, obviously struggling to make conversation with me, his daughter.

"Yeah, it's good," I said in a not so caring voice. I didn't want to seem leaned towards liking or hating; it was best to stay on neutral territory with him.

"Well, I got most of the heavier things in the house; think you can handle the rest while I start looking around for a good gig?" he asked, thankfully cutting to the chase.

"Sure thing, Daddy."

"Good. I'll have a shower first; this heat's killing me. Here, let me show you which room is yours."

I followed him up and watched discretely from the corner of my eye as Peach peeked out from his cover to see what was happening. I sent him a quick smile to assure him it was alright; he'd never so much as _seen_ my dad the entire four months I'd cared for him.

After Dad had showed me around and taken to the bathroom, I rushed down to the car and got Peach out of the sweltering trunk. He was panting with a few beads of sweat having formed across his brow. He wiped them off and took a big gulp of air.

"Sorry you had to wait so long," I said, looking around for something to let him do, since he definitely wouldn't spend another second in there if I had anything to do with it.

"It smells weelly good here!" He exclaimed, sniffing another huge breath of the fresh air.

"Oh, that's right! You've never smelled anything but city air! Yeah, it's good, huh?"

"Is air supposed to smell nice?"

"Usually, just not in big cities. In the country it's even better," he smiled brightly at this.

"Can we go to the country some day?"

"Maybe; we'll probably move there some time."

"That would be nice," he smiled and I did the same.

"Well, I need to start getting stuff in the house and you'll have to stay out of sight until my dad leaves. Do you see that little playground over there?" I gestured to a small play area with a few children and parents across the large parking lot.

"Yes," Peach nodded excitedly. "Can we go there?"

"You can play there until my dad leaves and I come to get you, okay? But you can't leave, don't talk to any strangers, stay out of the streets, and watch for cars while you cross the lot," I said, surprising myself at how motherly I sounded.

"Okay May-me," he agreed, looking across to it and bouncing away.

I immediately jumped into getting the remaining furniture from the truck so that Dad could try to return it when he went out. After dragging a few small shelves and tables up the stairs, and finally cleaning out the truck, besides Dad's motorcycle, Dad got out of the shower. He smiled approvingly at my progress as I walked him down to the lot.

"Alright, I've got a bunch of places to go, so don't expect me home before dinner time," he said. I wouldn't have expected him any sooner than that anyway, seeing as how he'd gone a full two days without a drink to get through the move.

"Okay. I'm gonna unpack a little; would you like me to do your room or would you rather..."

"No, do what you want. You can just leave to boxes in my room, though."

"I'll do that," I said and he gave a smile, or as close to one as he'd ever come anyway. There was something about Dad's smile I'd always noticed; it wasn't sad or forced, just not...right. Incomplete. Like his mouth didn't curve up all the way or his eyes didn't have any of the true passion of joy. It was just...hollow. I wonder if my smile looked like that?

"Okay. I'll take the truck and turn it in at the nearest place, so I can just use my bike. It's still in the back, right?" I nodded and he gave me a pat on the back of my shoulder. That was our "family's" version of a "hug".

After he drove away, I called Peach back over, who was now getting a little too hot between the trunk of the car and the midday sun on his back. I sent him in to relax a moment in the air conditioned living room while I went ahead and carried up all the heavy things. After he'd cooled down, he jumped right in to help, carrying up the remaining boxes while I organized furniture, setting up the metal frame and mattress on it in Dad's room and dragging all my stuff to mine to be set up later.

With everything out of the car, the two of us set into unpacking. The kitchen was simple enough, having not much attention required by just putting away the few dishes we owned and some cans of food that were easily transported from the old place. Then it needed the small table unfolded and a four chairs (two extra for the VERY rare occasions that we had company over; that hadn't happened in years, but we still kept the extras).

The living room took a little more time. There was the couch that, after long consideration, was positioned adjacent to the windowed wall directly across from the door. The kitchen was next to the door and led into the room with no border other than the change from tiled floor to carpeting. Across the room from the couch was a small rectangular table with a large flat screen TV, taking up a good half of the fairly small room. Dad's recliner, which hadn't been used by him in probably months, was between the couch and wall with the window, against which was the movie cabinet with a few R rated DVDs. I'd seen them all twice.

We set up the pillows and blankets against the back of the couch and put away the movies in alphabetical order, though I had to keep a few out of site for the four-and-a-half year old. The hallway needed no attention and so we went ahead to my room. I set it up virtually the same way it had been at the old house and Peach got a small two-drawer dresser for his own clothes. It was small enough to fit in the corner under my TV table. Since my laptop's usual place was now full, I got one of the unused bedside tables that usually just stayed in Dad's large closet when we moved and put it beside my mattress to hold the computer and it's case.

I was setting up the keyboard and guitar corner when Peach finally spoke up from his excited silence.

"May-me, can you play those?" he asked. Over four whole months, I'd see him eye the instruments suspiciously with a wondering gaze and I knew the question would come eventually.

"I guess; I haven't practiced in a while," I admitted to the boy. "Maybe I'll try again some time." The truth was, I hadn't played either in about a year now. And it was all for some crazy superstition I'd gotten from who knows where!

I'd always loved music; I'd gotten interested back when I was little and my dad played at home sometimes. I loved the smooth sounds of his acoustic guitar, so soft and mellifluous, and the energy pumping through the electric! The base made such a nice deep sound that not only sounded, but felt full. I was the only one who played the piano; I'd picked out a few little nursery rhyme type songs back then and later on looked up music and notes and everything. I learned the guitar from watching my dad and I'd practiced them both every day for pretty much my whole life.

One night I'd had this dream...

I was in a big room with chairs and music stands all around. There were people I didn't recognize all around, but they didn't seem real; like they were just statues frozen there with no significance whatsoever. It was full of all different instruments, from drums to winds...and a magnificent grand piano. It's black cover was so shiny that it had gleams of white against it, reflected from the bright ceiling lights.

I sat down on the stool to it, stretched my fingers in preparation, and slid them ever so lightly against the G key. My face lit up; it had to have been the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard! … But there was no sound. It was completely silent. Even as my fingers danced around and made a song that I was sure was the most incredible thing I'd ever heard, there was no sound at all.

The next day, I didn't play the piano. I was afraid that if I pressed the keys it wouldn't sound the same. It would be ugly. Empty...

Silent.

And with the piano gone from my daily routine, the guitar wriggled its way out as well. I'd so longed to play again on several occasions; I'd sit down in the chair like I always had, even get out the music I'd played so many times I had it memorized! But with my fingers poised on the keys...I got scared. I never turned it on. And I hadn't played since then.

I dropped the subject and moved us quickly to safer territory. "Would you like to go out for ice cream?"

"Yeah!" Peach shouted, finishing the last box he'd been working on.

The house was done, all except Dad's room, so grocery shopping and ice cream sounded just about right for now.

**Yay! Another chapter :) Hope you enjoyed; remember to review (I'll update AS SOON AS I GET SOME FEEDBACK!) and have a Happy Easter :)**


	4. Love Hurts

**Hey guys! Yeah, quick update, huh? I don't really know why, exactly, but I think it's all the combined elements of being nervous to lose my laptop (again), excitement to get to the good parts, and anxiousness to get through this story! I have a lot of other stories in mind and they're EXPLODING inside me now! And, being the uptight author I am, I refuse to post more than one at a time (excluding the occasional one shot, so long as that doesn't distract from my story of main interest at the time). So yeah, plus I want to take a break from Sonic and try my hand at some Lucky Star fics, just since I'm so obsessive right now. But fear not, readers! This story is first and I will always come back for more Sonic in the near future! Sonamy FOREVER! Oh, and Sonic will be here in just a few chapter ;)**

I knew when we first came here that we wouldn't stay very long...but two months may have been a new record for shortest stay in a certain town. I was scared, though, because this move wasn't the same as any of the others; of this I was sure. Dad didn't say a word, though.

I came home with Peach one day and, as we reached the apartment building, I saw both of my Dad's vehicles parked in front of apartment. This meant he was home...at only 3:00 in the afternoon. My eyes widened in surprise and I momentarily panicked, stopping Peach before he got to the stairs. I sent him to play on the playground again and reminded him of the rules, saying that it might be awhile before I could get him but not to worry; I'd keep an eye on him through the window as best I could.

I got up and found the door unlocked, which was very strange for my cautious dad; if he had a date with him, which was highly unlikely at this time of day, then he would have locked it for privacy whether I was there or not; I had my own key anyway. Instead of secluded in his room, however, I found him up front in the kitchen, pacing nervously. He looked up at the sound of the door closing behind me. I gave him an inquisitive stare, but he spoke before I could even say "Hello".

"We're moving again," he said, his voice shaking audibly.

I paused for a moment, taken aback. Usually he'd just leave a note or text me; not come home in the middle of the day, if he had even gone in today at all... "A-already?"

"Where were you?" He asked, ignoring my question.

"I was a-at the library," I said honestly, trying not to let my eyes wander to the window and toward Peach; that could seem suspicious.

"Okay. I'm sorry to spring this on you so fast, but we need to be out of here by tonight; sooner if possible," he said, attempting to hide his disease. It didn't work at all.

"W-" I began to ask, but decided it was best not to question him. "Are we renting a truck again? How are we gonna get all the furniture by th-"

"We're leaving the furniture here; we'll get a fully furbished house somewhere down south. I still have to print directions. We can pack things like clothes and necessities, but that's it; anything we don't need is staying here."

"Oh. Okay," I said, confused by all this. He was _obviously_ hiding something, but I didn't exactly want to find it. I'd learned pretty early how bad curiosity could be.

But what about Peach? If we weren't renting a truck, that meant it was a high possibility that Dad and I would be in the same car the entire time. And that wouldn't work with Peach. I had to make a plan, and fast! We were leaving tonight, as in just a few hours from now at most!

"Daddy, what if we both pack some bags, you print directions, and go ahead over on your motorcycle. I'll leave later tonight and bring the car, since the motorcycle doesn't fit onto it right," I said. We'd done a few moves in which we'd simply strapped the motorcycle to the back of the car, but it always made him nervous as hell that it would flip over our tiny car.

"That's fine. How about you print two copies of the directions while I get done with my packing; I started already while you were gone."

Okay, so some things did resolve themselves. I took the address sheet he handed me and Googled directions, printing them while I waved out the window to Peach. There were other children there now with their parents, so at least I knew he was safer. Once printed, I skimmed over to get an idea of where we were going. It was some town pretty far from anywhere we'd _ever_ lived; we only passed through one city I was familiar with on the way, and it was an 18 hour drive! I took a deep breath and stared out the window for a moment.

I jumped and closed the curtains abruptly as a pounding knock on my door startled me out of my trance.

"Did you get directions?" My dad's voice asked. I jumped to the door and opened it, handing him one of the two sheets of paper. "Good girl. I'm taking one of my bags, since we'll probably end up in different hotels if we leave separately. The rest of my things I want you to take for me in the car are on the couch. Pack your things and...I guess I'll meet you there in a few days. If I'm not at the house when you get there, I'll leave a key in the back of the mailbox, okay?"

"Sure, Dad," I answered, trying to sound casual rather than nervous or...scared I guess. If something was making my _dad_ jumpy, I knew it was bad.

"Alright. Uh, I guess I'll get going now. Do have everything you'll need? Car keys are next to the ash tray in the kitchen and I'll leave you some money if you..."

"I have my credit card," I told him.

"Good," he nodded. "I guess I'll see you there," he began to walk away when, without my own approval, I stopped him.

"Dad," I said and he turned to look back at me. "I...is something wrong?"

He tried to disguise the way his face fell, but I caught the motion anyway. "It...it's nothing you have to worry about, Amy. But...things are going to change now, okay?"

I wasn't sure whether to be happy or freak out. "Okay," I said, making sure my voice didn't lean towards either extreme, but rather remained absolutely neutral, a difficult task that I'd mastered after several years of practice.

He gave one nod and left. I watched discretely out my window as he got on his motorcycle and drove away, picking up speed before he even left the parking lot. As soon as I couldn't see him anymore, I practically sprinted down to the playground to get Peach, nearly tripping on the stairs as I leaped over them three at a time. He met me at the edge of the playground, smiling at first but then looking concerned.

"Come with me back to the apartment, okay?" I said.

"Okay. Is something wrong, May-me?" he asked.

"No," I lied, but could tell he didn't believe me. That didn't matter; I wanted to escape the public eye before saying one more word on the matter.

Once we reached the apartment again, I immediately started pulling all the duffel bags and large purses from the top of my closet and tossing them on the floor.

"Start packing your clothes; we have to move again," I said, almost ashamed of the words.

"Already? But we were just getting used to it here," he said sadly, but didn't argue as he started stuffing the contents of each of his drawers into a different bag.

I ran out and checked the couch to see what kind of things my dad had packed. His clothes were in two large suitcases and his laptop in its case. He had a few small boxes with what looked like some sort of books, even though I'd never known him much for reading. There was also one large cedar chest that I knew he'd had as long as I could remember. I'd never seen what was in it, since it was locked and opening it would require searching for the key, which might take up unwanted time in his room. I wasn't all too curious anyway, so I had always left it alone.

Okay, so clothes, laptop, and personal belongings I figured. My clothes, as always, were already in two plastic boxes, so all I had to do was pull out and put on their lids. I stuffed my laptop, porta-printer, and chargers in my laptop case and filled one bag with all my other belongings; a very small, very empty jewelry box, my bandana collection, and my favorite blanket that I'd never slept a night without.

From the bathroom, I filled a small bag with my toiletry items; shampoo, razor, lotion, facial wash, tampons, toothbrush, and a few random bottles of pills or itch creams from the medicine cabinet I thought might be needed eventually.

Since there wasn't much there anyway, I packed some of the dishes from the kitchen. Two of my personal favorites coffee mugs, wrapped in crinkled newspaper, were placed in a hard-bottomed bag. On top of them were four plates, four bowls, and a ziplock baggie with a handful of each kind of silverware. Deciding I had accumulated enough things to fill the car (and even then some) I went back to my room with Peach to make sure everything was finished.

Peach had stayed quiet, thankfully, as he must have noticed how frantic I was at the moment. Finally, after long contemplation, I decided to take my instruments. I put the guitar in its case and left the stand where it was and grabbed the piano as well.

"Peach," I started, once everything was in the living room and ready to go, "I'm going to be very frank with you, alright?"

"What does 'frank' mean?" he asked, seeming happy to be speaking with me again.

"It means blunt or...it just means I'm going to tell you how it is and not make it sound any better."

"That's okay," he agreed.

I sighed. "I'm not exactly sure what's going on. I'm kind of scared, too. We're moving somewhere far away and I think it's going to be harder for us to get out of the house, and that my dad might even be there more often. It's going to be a little harder to keep you hidden, but I promise I'll do everything I can, okay?"

He looked contemplative for a moment. "That's okay. I'll try my hardest to help, May-me, just tell me what I can do."

"Thank you for understanding. It helps me so much that you listen so well and try to help me," I said genuinely, pulling him in for a hug.

"It's the least I can do for everyting you've done for me. I love you, May-me," he said, hugging me back.

The last words threw me off guard. I'd never thought of even the concept of 'love' before, much less applied to my own life. But it was true, and that realization hit me very hard very fast. Suddenly it was all I could do to breath as my eyes began stinging with tears. Love. I'd never known what it was even, but now...I felt it.

"I love you too," I said. I did. And it scared the shit out of me. Because I knew for a fact...it would hurt. I knew it would have to hurt...right?

**Aw, that last part is sweet, huh? :3 I love Peach; I think h may be my favorite OC I've ever created! XD So, I want to do another quick update (seriously by Friday or something crazy like that ;P) but that's only gonna happen if you all get off your high horses and review! One review per chapter isn't exactly satisfying, so I'm going to be very easy here and say two. Just two measly reviews and you'll have your chapter! So go forth, young readers, and REVIEW! Seriously, it doesn't even have to be long! Just give me a ":)" or something and I'll count it. Thanks! :D**


	5. Pocket Full of Sunshine

**Hi again everyone! Wow, two updates in two days? I'm on fire! And, apparently, so are you guys! Now tell me, on a scale of one to ten, how awesome is it to go from one review in my inbox to six? Well I'll tell you right now, the answer is 400 zillion! Thanks so much! I asked for more feedback and damn did you guys ever give it! Thanks so much!**

**And to answer a few of your questions, Sonic will be here soon! Maybe even next chapter soon! ;D I already know how he's going to enter the story, so don't worry too much about it:) As for why he's not on the character list, it's because he doesn't come in until so far into the plot and I didn't think it would be completely fair to put him in if he's not one of the main characters the whole time...so yeah. But no worries; there WILL be Sonamy! Just bear with me and keep up the AMAZING reviews!**

**Oh, and the reason she only refers to Peter as Peach now is because she just got used to the nickname and uses it unconsciously at this point. Just like how Sonic never calls Miles Prower by his real name, but instead always simply refers to him as Tails :D And the same thing with my new puppy, Delilah. I never even call her that, really; I just call her "Little Bit"...I'm not really sure why...but she is very little, so it works! Lolz :P**

**Okay, enjoy the chapter and I hope to see such amazing reviews again!**

This was the wrong address. It had to be! The directions were fault, or I'd made a wrong turn or...oh, I didn't even know anymore! Not that it was some shabby, horrible place to live...but the opposite. I knew when we entered the town that it would be some country house or something, since all the houses around were old and rustic. That alone was pretty neat! But when we turned down the right road and drove for a two full miles just to get to and up the driveway, my worries began to fester again.

I'd made sure to keep in touch with Dad as we got closer so that I knew for certain he'd be out of the house when we got there. The mailbox, number 715, had a key nestled in the very back, just like he had promised, so that helped reassure my doubts after the long drive up a dirt road. The driveway, though, must've been half a mile on its own. By the time we made it all the way to the house, I was in shock.

First of all, it was nothing like any house we'd ever stayed in! It was far from large, but still looked gigantic after three solid years of apartment buildings! And it wasn't just a house, but a real life picturesque log cabin in the middle of the woods!

"Wooow," Peach drew out a little gasp as I parked the car under an awning-type garage beside the house. "Is this another hotel?"

"No...this is the house," I said, my eyes still bulging as I tried to take all of it in.

"Can I get out and look around?"

"Sure," I said.

Peach sprang out of the car and began running wildly around the outside of the house. I got out slowly, breathing in the aroma of pine trees and fresh earthy dirt and grass all around. I walked, almost in a daze, to the front door and tried the key in the lock. It fit. This _was_ the right place, and there was no denying it now.

I stepped inside and found Peach right on my heals, laughing and jumping around the porch. The house was fully furbished with old, dusty furniture that had no match or order whatsoever. There was a blue and green styled plaid couch, stretching out to cover half of the large front room, and a TV that had to be a million years old across from it under the front window. All of the multiple windows were hung with faded green curtains that would probably be several shades lighter if they didn't have such a thick coating of dust. There was a fire place on the other side of the room with a magnificent brick mantle that, with the enormous couch, took up almost the entire room.

A door was in the back right corner of the room and I found that it led up to an small attic that was only about as big as my old bedroom. It had a very quaint feel to it, though, and I would probably end up claiming it as my room. Besides thee aura, though, another feature of the attic was a window that was smack dab near a corner on the _ceiling!_ I guess it would be called a skylight then, but I liked it. I opened it up and found the hinges were surprisingly free of rust. A waterfall of dust cascaded down onto the orangey carpet, but there was enough dust already to disguise it.

The window opened out and I grabbed the edges of the roof around it to hoist myself up. It was an amazing view! Though the house was fairly small, from up here it seemed like a mile high and I could see everything! There were trees and dense forest on all sides of the cabin with a few well-maintained looking paths going every which way into the forest. Aside from them and the dirt and gravel driveway, the rest was just a wall of trees. I figured we must have been somewhere along the side of a mountain and in the far off distance I could see several more great mounds rising high off the ground.

Are house had a nice large clearing in the tree, so the yard was spacious and sunny, but I'm sure that was probably just because it was midday and the shadows would make their way around the yard as the sun moved. I heard Peach's quick footsteps downstairs as he ran around and opened doors, exploring the new house. Finally, he came across the open stairwell door and wandered up to find me, now sitting on the edge of roof on one side of the window.

"May-me! What are you doing?" he called, as if being on the other side of the window's threshold would make it harder to hear him.

I giggled a little at his big, curious eyes staring up at me. "It's a great view from up here, Peach," I said smiling.

"Can I come up?"

"Not right now; we'll have to get a stool or something up here eventually so I won't be worried about you falling back inside," I said, sliding off the edge and recoiling from the drop on the floor beside him.

"Okay. What room is this?"

"It's technically the attic, but I think I'll ask Dad for this to be my room, which means yours too. What do you think?"

"I like it a lot! This would be a great room!"

"I'm glad you think so too. Come on; let's unpack the car, okay?"

"Okay. Can I show you all the rooms first?"

I laughed once and followed him down the stairs. He gave me the grand tour and I discovered several new rooms. A wonderful kitchen, at least twice the size of any kitchen I think we'd ever had, was just behind the living room. There was a dining room just outside of it, and a hallway on the other side. Down the hall were two bedrooms and a large bathroom.

Both bedrooms were well-equipped with beds and dressers, along with several other furnishings to complete the rooms. The dining room had a wonderful but oversized oak table and six chairs, though two were in the corners out of the way. When Dad said we would get new furniture, I figured it might take a few weeks after the move or something. A fully furnished house seemed quite a bit more...cozy, but...different. Like something you'd get to last a lifetime rather than a few months. It made me wonder...

I shook off the thought and went to the car for my phone. The fact that I had a signal way out here concluded the mountain theory; we'd have to be pretty high up to be in contact with a satellite rather than a signal tower. Plus my ears kept popping, making me think for sure we must've been at some higher elevation. I called my dad and he picked up on the second ring.

"Hi Daddy," I said.

"Hi, Amy! Are you at the house yet?"

"Yeah w-er, I just got here a few minutes ago and I checked it out."

"So...what do you think?"

"It's really great! Kinda big, though," I said honestly.

"Yeah, I know. But I think we're going to be staying here for awhile," he said.

"Oh...okay, that's cool. Oh, and I was wondering if I can have the attic as my room?"

"Yeah if that's what you'd like, but you did see there were two bedrooms, right?"

"I did, just I like it up there best; it has this sort of...cozy feeling, ya know?"

"I guess. You sound...different,"

I paused for a moment to breath. "I'm just kinda excited; I like the woods around here. It's kinda nice," I said.

"Okay, well that's good. Look, I'll be home in a few hours and I was gonna pick up something for dinner. Any requests?"

Man, this was weird. It's like I was talking to a completely different person! "Um...anything's good, just no meat."

"Oh yeah, vegetarian right? Thanks for reminding me."

"No problem. I was gonna unpack; which room is yours?"

"End of the hall on the left; you can just leave my stuff in there; I'll unpack later."

"Okay," and then we both hung up.

After unloading the car, Peach and I explored a little ways down a few of the paths. From what it looked like, all of them went a long ways back in the woods and some even branched off into new paths. We went back soon, though, so Peach wouldn't be afraid of getting lost. When my dad was almost home, I finally set my plan for him into action.

I'd need him out of my room just in case Dad came up there to check it out, since it was the first evening and we were going to be together (our first "family dinner" in six years), so I helped him build a makeshift tent just out of sight of the house. When the coast was clear, I'd climb down the overhanging front porch to retrieve him and help him climb back up with me. I check it out, and there was a stack of logs practically making a staircase up to the roof, so the only hard part would be where it got steep just next to the skylight. I could help him over that, though.

Thoughts swirled relentlessly in my head. Why had my dad been so...open? Like the first conversation we'd ever really had in the same world at the same time. Like he was an actual living creature with sentiment capabilities. Like...he was starting to care.

**Wow, Amy's Dad actually gives half a crap? How did that happen? Sorry, this story is kinda writing itself, so I'm kinda in shock right now...lolz :) Anyway, please review; it would make me explode from happiness (don't worry, that kind of explosion is very survivable) if I could see the same kind of feedback as the last chapter! That, plus I'll get another chapter up very soon with some positive reinforcement via reviews! **

**I'll tell you all now, there may not be another next day update, but I definitely won't take long, just that Thursdays are my busiest days of the week. Anyway, leave your opinions and let's see if we can get Sonic here next time :) The only thing, though, is I'd have to jump ahead a little again, but not a long time like every other chapter so far, just like a week or so. Let me know what yall think; whether I should do some more on here and now or get on with the Sonamy! Lol, thanks!**


	6. Shifting to Blend

**OMG another chapter! Yay! Sorry it kinda took longer, but it was the weekend time again, so I got mega busy with no notice whatsoever! But, hey, it was fun. And this chapters a really good one! I think you all will be in for a pleasant surprise here :) Plus, it's a smidgen longer than a few of my previous installments, so that's a plus! :D Anyway, thanks again for all my reviews! You guys rock my knee-high socks! (Which is epic, because I only wear them if they're loud!) Enjoy!**

**Oh, and P.S. I don't have time to proof read, so excuse any mistakes.**

The woods were a great place to hide, especially with my dad home much more often. He had taken up the strange routine of working regular daytime hours now, meaning he left at 7:30 am and was back by 6:00 at night. I could get away with the viable excuse of sleeping when he left and being tired from the day or whatever to spend evenings "in my room". Dinners were really the only problem area, seeing as how he seemed disappointed when I claimed to want to take it in my room to relax. Most often, I'd just have to get Peach an early dinner to eat up there.

Two weeks in the new house, and we had both adjusted to new routines pretty well so far. We were pretty far from any cities and even the town was a few miles off, but the woods were big and vast enough to keep us both occupied for hours on end each day. We'd found a nice thick creek coming down the mountain about half a mile from the house and Peach was determined to build a tree house at one particularly beautiful clearing-like area. So far he'd already drawn me a picture of what it would look like and picked out the perfect tree. I was just about ready to give in and help him build it, but there wasn't really much wood we could use and going to buy some would be a problem since I didn't have a way exactly to transport the wood back home.

Finally, I gave in and helped him start it with a few two-by-fours stowed away under the house. We sawed them and nailed them going up the tree as steps. There was a little shed out behind the house were we found a very big flat board and took it out to the tree. It was very heavy, so getting it out there alone took up the majority of one day and getting it up the tree took another. But finally we had it. It wasn't big or well-built just yet, but it was there.

The tree house became our project for several days of the week, and with the nice weather of pre-fall late summer, we didn't even mind spending all day outside in the woods. In fact, we liked the temperature so much that even at night I left the skylight open in my room with a little bug net door nailed up over it. Once Peach fell asleep every night, I'd usually climb up and sit on the roof and look at the stars. It was so beautiful out here! I started to feel sad that some day we'd have to just pack up and leave again, but it's not like we could ever stay here, right? Nothing was permanent; it was inevitable.

About one month had passed in the house, even though it only felt like a few weeks tops. I was going downstairs to say hi to my dad and make dinner; it was already 6:30 and I hadn't meant to be out that long. Peach and I had been in the woods again and I had just gotten back and helped him up to the skylight window, careful to keep from being spotted by my dad.

I had made a discrete makeshift ladder to help with the sneaking in and out process by putting a clothesline between one of the closest trees and the roof. Under that was a tall wooden privacy fence, my dad figured just to catch fallen clothes, that was easy enough to walk across from the tree to the roof. It was much more stable than the log pile.

I glided down the stairs and stopped short in the doorway when I saw my dad on the living room couch. Only he wasn't alone. There was a tall violet hedgehog there with him, which wouldn't have surprised me too much except for the fact that they were both just talking and fully clothed...and there was someone else there with them. A bored looking blue hedgehog sat to the side, looking kind of annoyed to be here in the first place.

My words caught in my throat and I half coughed, trying to back back up the steps before they noticed me, but my dad's head turned just in time to see me before I could shut the stairway hall's door.

"Oh, there you are, Amy. I though you must have been asleep when we got here," he said, giving a small smile. What was up with him lately?

"Oh so this is her? Come out, sweetheart; don't be shy," the woman said.

I obediently stepped back into view and saw the blue hedgehog glanced up for a moment and I saw the hint of a smile play across his eyes, but was cleverly disguised under the bored teen look.

"Oh Blake, you lied! She's much prettier than you said!" the lady gushed and I awkwardly chewed on my tongue. "Oh, I'm so sorry; where are my manners? My name is Aleena; I was the one in charge of your house while your father and you weren't here the past few years. This is my son Sonic, and we were just coming to talk and see how you two were doing."

"Okay," I said nervously. "Hi."

"They were going to be staying here for the night in the guest room. We were actually just thinking about dinner and-" he said when I broke in.

"I'll cook," I blurted, wanting desperately to find an excuse to get away from a conversation.

"Oh, you don't need to," Aleena started.

"No, I'd love to. What are you guys in the mood for?" I asked, trying not to let my voice waver; I wasn't exactly good with people. Peach was the only one I'd ever really _talked_ to in my life; my dad was just the required questions and comments.

"Anything's fine with me," Aleena said, looking to my dad for suggestions.

"I know we have a stir fry mix put together; would you all like that?" my dad offered, looking to me.

Aleena smiled and Sonic shrugged indifferently. I nodded and went off to the kitchen, getting out the stir fry pan and putting in all the things. I did some chicken separately in a skillet on the stove so that I could leave it out of my own. After the veggies and things were nearly done, I scooped out a large bowl for myself and Peach and then stirred the chicken in for the rest of them.

"It's ready. I'm tired, so I'm going to eat in my room and go to bed, okay?" I said, passing by them with my bowl without a second glance towards the living room.

"Wait, Amy," my dad was saying, but I pretended not to hear him, closing the door and waiting at the bottom of the stairs to hear them for a moment. "I'm sorry about her; she's usually not like this," my dad explained. How would he know if I was or wasn't anyway?

"Oh I understand; it's just these teenage years. Sonic can be the same way at times."

"I feel like it's my fault sometimes. I wish her mother was here; I get so lost sometimes," he sighed.

"I'm so sorry. If there's ever anything I can do; you know I'd love to be the mother figure for your daughter," Aleena explained.

"Thank you Aleena. I think this will be good for both of us, though. I'm really ready to change things back to normal," he explained.

Not willing to listen to another word, I rushed up to my room and dropped the bowl in front of Peach on the floor.

"Eat now, okay? We're going to go and camp in the tree house tonight," I said.

I was so confused; I had lost my appetite and now I just wanted to get out of here and think.

"Okay. Are you okay, May-me?"

"I'm fine. Just go ahead and eat, okay?"

Peach nodded and tore into the stir fry, stabbing a chopstick through a tiny corn cob and popping it in his mouth. I should have brought a fork for him, since he had yet to learn the art of chopsticks, but it was the first thing my hand grabbed from the utensil drawer, so whatever. When he had finished as much as he wanted, I wasted no time in getting him ready to go. I got a little backpack and dropped in a flashlight and some extremely wadded blankets and told him to meet me just outside the fence.

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight!" I hollered down the stairs, just before going after him.

We navigated the dark forest with our flashlight until we came to the tree house. He climbed up first followed closely by me with the backpack. I laid one blanket out on the floor and Peach attempted to get comfortable on the blanket, but I hadn't brought any pillows and only one blanket for us to cover up with. It was easy to sense his discomfort, but I ignored him for the time, trying to think.

My mom. What the hell was that supposed to mean? I didn't have a Mom! And if I ever had I wouldn't know her! Why would it even matter to my dad if he'd never even cared to tell me I had one? I always figured it was some girl he had gotten pregnant and she didn't want to keep me so ended up just leaving me for my dad to deal with. I had never even considered the possibility that she had been...well, real. I mean, here I was playing mommy for Peach when really I didn't even understand the concept in the least!

And those two people, Aleena and Sonic, were staying at our house for the night. Both of them. And the woman not even in the same room as my dad. How could he not explode? How could he actually allow people in our house like they were old friends or something? Unless they were...but my dad didn't have friends! He had bitches, not girlfriends, and he had me. That was it.

"I was the one in charge of your house while your father and you weren't here the past few years."

What was that supposed to mean? Had we lived here before or something? No, we couldn't have! I'd remembered every house we'd lived in since I was two, and even before then I'm sure some place like this would've made a lasting impression! UGH!

Why was this all so confusing? Why should I even care? Hadn't I learned how stupid curiosity was? I got through each day. I lived my life. That was it. Why did I need answers so badly too?

My thoughts were cut short when I heard something. Peach half gasped and his eyes popped open.

"I heard something, May-me," he whispered in an unnerved voice.

"Me too," I admitted. "It was probably nothing. You should try to get to sleep."

"I can't sleep here; it's too uncomfy," he complained reluctantly. Peach hated complaining.

"Okay, we can go back to the house if you want. I didn't plan this well enough; maybe we can come back some other times with pillows or something."

"That would be nice," he said, still only a whispering cautious voice.

"Alright, let's ge-" I stopped short when hearing another sound. A very prominent footstep. Not one of a light footed animal or a bird accustomed to the forest floor, but it was too careful. Too precise. Like someone trying a little too hard not to be heard. "Wait here," I instructed, having to get right up against his ear so he could hear me.

Peach nodded, eyes wide, as I went to the ladder and got down half way before climbing onto a near by tree branch of a different oak tree. The leaves only rustled the slightest bit from my slow approach and I let my eyes adjust to the darker setting closer to the forest floor. I scanned the surroundings and listened to the now more rapid sounds of footsteps. My eyes darted around, trying to locate the source of sound until a moving figure caught my eye. I froze.

It was hard to tell in the dark, but the figure looked fairly tall and well-built. I could tell it was a guy from the broad shoulders and otherwise figure less body. But who, however, was still a mystery. As he approached, I could tell for sure it wasn't my dad, which was enough of a relief to give me courage to protect Peach. He got closer by the second, apparently gaining more confidence towards his movements and then...he turned to the tree next to me.

His eyes automatically sought out the ladder nailed to the tree and followed it up to the platform, where, thankfully, Peach was hidden in the direct center. He couldn't see him from down there...or me. One step closer, then another, one more and

I jumped...

Landing directly on target.

I brought him to the ground with silent force and heard him gasp in surprise but recover almost immediately to throw me off of him. I rolled a few feet away so he was between me and the tree house. I immediately convalesced and fixed myself into a cat-like crouch. I felt like I should growl or something, but remained silent with my glare drilling a hole into his head. And could barely keep my mouth from falling opened. It was the same hedgehog from my house. Sonic.

He stood in front of me smirking, as if this was a great game that we played every day. But he had no clue.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed in as threatening a voice as I could.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said, sounding way too confident.

"But you didn't because I asked you."

"Okay, I was coming to find out what you were doing," he said in a cocky tone that was really starting to piss me off.

"And how would you know that I was out here or care if you did?"

"No, now it's your turn to answer my question. What are _you_ doing out here?"

"Right now refraining from ripping your head off your shoulders," I threatened.

"Fiesty, eh? No wonder the stir fry was a little spicy."

"Don't kid with me."

"Why not? And by the way, who's the kid in the tree house?"

I growled. "What are you talking about?"

"You're a pretty bad liar. You can come down, kid. I swear I'm not gonna hurt you guys; you don't have to be scared."

Peach looked cautiously down at us and I gave him a reluctant nod. He immediately slid down the steps and ran a wide circle around Sonic to stand behind me warily.

"So who's this?" Sonic asked, changing almost immediately from smarmy to considerate, as if the presence of a child changed the entire situation.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Just curious," he shrugged. Why the hell was he so comfortable.

"He's my son," I practically spat, wishing he'd just leave. My heart was pounding so hard I had to wonder if either of them could hear it.

"I'm sure he is. He's, what, half your age?"

"It's none of your concern."

"Okay. How about you two come with me? I know where there's a nice warm campfire we can sit around and maybe you can tell me the truth?"

Okay, how big of an idiot was this guy? Like I would actually be dumb enough to...ugh. Peach tapped my shoulder, breaking me out of the trance.

"May-me, I think he's nice. And I'm cold," Peach whispered in my ear.

I sighed reluctantly. "If this is any funny business, I hope you know that you _will_ be sorry."

"Hey, no worries. You okay with a Freedom Fighter camp, or are you gonna report us if I show you where it is?"

I blinked twice. "Uh...yeah, your safe as long as we are."

"Sweet. I can get us there fast, but you've both gotta hold on tight, okay?"

"What's that supposed to-" I was cut off when one of his arms grabbed around my wrist and the other grabbed Peach.

I almost screamed, because the next second we were flying through the forest at an impossible speed! The trees blowing by, if we could've seen them that is, were just blurs and splotches as he zoomed by with Peach and I in tow. Soon enough, we came into a dimly lit clearing with several people gathered around the enormous flames of a large fire.

"So," Sonic began, ignoring the waves and calls to him from a few people, "the truth now, if you please."

**Heheheheheh...Sonic x3 Yayayayayayay! He's finally here! Okay, so kind of a drop off ending, but I'll be back soon! :) Plus, that's about as good an ending for a chapter as anything, right? Anyway, I may update as soon as tomorrow, but that can only be decided by generous reviewers ;) Hope there weren't too many (if any) mistakes and that you all enjoyed the chapter! Review and let's all see what happens next! XDDD**

**Love you guys!**

**Peace out! (-) **


	7. Deep Dark Corners of Me

**Hey again everyone! I'm back with another chapter! Man, I really am zipping through this story, huh? And before I know it it'll be over and I'll be doing something else entirely! :O No worries though; I've still got lots to do. And-OMG-so much is happening in this chapter! Though not as much action as information but-oh shut up me and don't spoil the chapter! Okay, I'll let you all read it now; thanks for the reviews and I can't wait for more! ;D Enjoy!**

"It's Amy, right?" Sonic asked, after we had found a place for Peach to sleep, seeing as how, even though it was his first campfire, he was nodding off and barely able to stand once we arrived.

"Yeah...and you're Sonic?"

"You got it," he gave a thumbs up and I followed him over to one of the fires where we both took a seat a bit away from the crowds of people, some of whom were giving me inquisitive stares. Sonic either didn't notice or was just ignoring them if he did.

"So...this is a Freedom Fighter camp, huh?"

"Yeah, you've never been to one?"

"No," I admitted.

"Oh. I just thought...you know, with your mom and dad..."

"I always thought my dad was, like, good with Robotnic."

"Really? That's kinda weird; my mom used to always tell me stories about him and he sounded like quite the rebel."

"Oh...how does your mom know my dad?"

"She was your mom's old college roommate; they were really close growing up. Hasn't she ever mentioned Aleena?"

"Uh..."

"Oh, right. Sorry. I guess I forgot," he apologized, turning his gaze to the ground awkwardly. "I guess you try not to think about her too much; sorry for bringing it up. That was probably really insensitive."

"I...don't think I ever met my mom."

Sonic looked back up at me and blinked. Now my gaze fell away from his. "You're kidding!"

"No...I don't think I've ever even heard about her. I always figured someone just dropped me off and my dad was obligated to take me," I admitted.

"Wow. I had no idea. I wonder if my mom even knows; she and your dad haven't really talked all these years."

"Yeah, we've moved around a lot. I didn't know he had any...connections."

"Wow, this is so weird! All this time I figured everything was great and normal for you guys but...wow. The way I heard it sounded like your mom just died and your dad wanted to move out her to get over it and find some comfort. I...I had no idea she'd been gone all this time."

"Did you ever meet her?"

"When I was really little. I was only two when you guys moved away; she had just gotten pregnant with you and wanted to be with her family when you came. We haven't seen or heard from you guys since. Mom must've figured you'd found a great life and forgotten about us."

"Wow..."

"We stayed in the cabin most of the year until my mom got a permanent job in the city and it was too long a drive to just live here. That was a few years ago, though, and this place was like a second home to us since then. Then your dad called about a month ago and said you guys were coming back...and that your mom wasn't with you anymore. Tonight's the first they've talked since then; Mom wanted to make sure you were all settled in before visiting."

I blinked a few times, trying to take it all in.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I chocked out. "Just a lot to digest, you know?"

"Right. Maybe I should let you-"

"No! I want to hear more!"

"But don't you have a lot to tell too?" he asked, one eyebrow raised in this really sexy...wait, WHAT? Why did I just...never mind. Stupid subconscious.

"Like what?"

"Well, I just filled in all the basics you _didn't_ know about your life, so now you tell me some what you _do_ know."

"Like what?"

"Well, start simple. You're...17?"

"Will be in a few months," I said. "How about you?"

"18 going on 19," he smiled. "And what about tree house boy?"

"Peach? I think he's about seven."

"Think? I was under the impression he was your 'son'?"

I sighed and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "I guess _technically_ he is, just not, like, biologically. I found him about half a year ago, he was six then, and...I've been taking care of him ever since."

"Yeah, that tells everything. What's his name? Why are taking care of him? Does your dad know? Shall I go on?"

"Oh, yeah. His name is Peter, but I call him Peach. He was an orphan and...well, I guess he was about to robotisized when I found him. I got him out and...he's been mine ever since. But you. Can't. Tell. my. Dad," I finished, giving him a stern glare to show I was dead serious.

"Chill; your secret's safe with me."

"Good." I sighed contentedly and relaxed for a moment.

"Do you ever smile?" he asked, and I eyed him.

"I thought I just was," I said, dropping my smile at that point.

"That was a smile? That's pathetic!" he laughed. "It looks like you're in pain when you smile," he teased.

"Well you're nice," I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Hey, sorry. You'll have to ignore me; I'm kind of a sarcastic jerk sometimes," he shrugged.

Now I coughed a laugh. "That's blunt."

"Yeah, that too."

I rolled my eyes and "smiled" again, leaning back slightly on the makeshift log bench. The fire was flickering happily and it was serenely warm around it. I noticed a lot of the other people had gone inside, probably to go to sleep. Taking a quick peek at my watch, I realized it was past midnight! But I wasn't in any hurry to go to sleep. What if I woke up tomorrow and found all this was just a dream? I don't think I could take that.

"You okay?" Sonic asked, breaking our momentary silence.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Huh?"

"What were you just thinking about?" he asked, a lighthearted tone in his voice; he seemed...amused.

"Oh..." I paused. "Nothing. Just I'm not used to real conversation, especially for this long."

"Wanna call it a night?"

"No!" I said, a little too eagerly. "I mean, not unless you want to go to sleep. I just want to know more."

"Like what?"

"Well...about my mom. I mean, I never even met her; I just learned she was...real. And now I'm curious."

"Well, I don't know everything, but I can answer what I do know. My mom told me a lot about her, but I don't know anything much about after her and your dad got married."

"Wow," I sort of sighed, wondering and kind of hoping the word had stayed in my head.

"What?"

I laughed once. "My dad was married. I would've never guessed."

He chuckled for a second. "Okay, how about for everything I tell you about your mom, you tell me something either about your dad or yourself?"

I paused for a moment. "There's barely anything to tell. We've moved around a lot for as long as I can remember and...we were never very close. He's been working for as long as I was able to stay home alone and when he's not working he's..." I should probably stop there.

"What? It can't be that bad," Sonic coaxed.

"Well, before we moved here, he was always either drunk or..._with_ someone. Specifically tipsy bar maids," I said, letting my bangs fall down to cover my eyes.

"Oh..." was his response. "Wow. I never would have...wow. I'm really sorry."

"Why? It's not like you have anything to do with it. It was for as long as I could remember, too, so...I was used to it. But things have changed since we got out here. I haven't seen him drunk and we've actually talked and...you get it. I think he's really changed."

"That's good," Sonic said and I nodded slightly.

"I'm just kind of scared for Peach. I feel like he's my whole life sometimes and if my dad found out...I don't know what I'd do. And with him home so much more and trying to get in some 'bonding time' with me it's getting a lot harder to take as good care of him."

"Why not tell him?"

That made me choke on my own breath and I laughed. "Are you crazy? What would I say? 'Hey Dad, I've been taking care of this kid behind your back for half a year now. Mind if he hangs out with us?'?"

"Okay, so you've got a point," Sonic agreed. "I could get my mom in on it; she'd help us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, aren't I in on the big secret now?"

"Well..." I was skeptical.

"You know, I was supposed to be there with you your whole life, just like your mom and mine were with each other. Like you were supposed to be my best friend since before you were even born, but then the plan got changed. But now that I've met you...I want to make up for it."

"Why?"

"I grew up my whole life hearing about this 'would-be-best-friend', wondering who you were, where you were, how you were...I didn't know anything about you, and neither did my mom! She just knew about your mom and dad and always told me you'd all come back some day and we could just pick up from there."

"And that's what you're trying to do?" he nodded. "But you have to give me time; you still know my mom a lot better than I do."

"But I know someone who knew her better than me or my mom," he said.

"Who?"

"Your dad," he said and my excitement fell.

"Oh."

"You should talk to him; there might be a lot you'd like to learn."

"Yeah, but not right now."

"Why not? 1:00 am is the perfect time for heartfelt confessions!"

"I'll wait till tomorrow morning; he might be home since it's Saturday. I know he doesn't work weekends anymore," I said, shrugging.

"Okay. I think we should both get some sleep too. I'll let you bunk with Bunnie; she's really nice."

"Sure," I agreed, feeling exhaustion hit me hard and fast as I stood to follow him. When did I get so tired? I guess time flies when you're searching through dark corners in you mind to figure out a hidden past that you didn't even know you had. Hm...weird expression.

**Lol, I like that ending! :3 But that doesn't matter; I'm the one who wrote it for corn's sake! Lolz, so you've all gotta review now so whether I just like it because I'm me or if it's actually good! Okay, maybe this wasn't the longest chapter, but it's better than nothing and, like I said, I'm zipping right through this, so there'll be another chapter soon! XD Oh, and I was searching through unposted documents the other day and realized my Lucky Star fic, the one I was gonna do when this one's done, is like seven chapters into it! I don't want to post it before this one's done, because double stories gets me all discombobulated, but what do yall think? Am I safe as long as I put focus on this one still ;) Naw, idk, so I need a vote! So get in your polls; thanks everyone! XD**


	8. Forever Yours, the Story of Amanda Rose

**Hey everyone! I'm dishin out a pretty long chapter today! :D Not much to say for now, just thanks for the reviews and please enjoy!**

Dad wasn't there when I got back. Which was actually very disappointing. I had really wanted to talk to him! There were some things I was ready to know. That I _needed_ to know! I was ready to come out of my shell and give in to curiosity. Things had changed...

I had changed.

And I needed to realize that and embrace it. I needed to know who my mother was...and what had happened to her. It wasn't even an option at this point!

I was feeling so confident and brave, I had almost brought Peach back here with me to confront my dad! But he enjoyed it at the Freedom Fighters' camp so much that I knew he'd be fine, if not better, there. And this was something I had to do alone. I had to talk to my dad...for the first time in my life.

But when I arrived to an empty house, all of the hope came crashing down. And now I was full of anxiety. I went to my dad's room to wait there for him to get home and flopped down on his king sized bed. The mattress was soft and bouncy. I spent a minute rolling across the unmade sheets and enjoying its cushiony feel. When something on his nightstand caught my eye.

It was a key. A sleek black key, all alone atop the dresser. I went over and picked it up, fingering the cold, smooth metal. On the top was a black-cherry colored heart embroidery with a thorn vine carved around it. I slid the key around in my hand for a moment, mesmerized by the way it felt and let my fingers dance around the depictions. My focus was broken, however, by one mind-shatteringly huge realization.

"The chest," I whispered, instinctively turning to the large cedar chest at the foot of my dad's bed.

It didn't have its usual toppings of dusty blankets or forgotten clothes, leaving it wide open and exposed. It was like my actions weren't even controlled by me anymore as I sat in front of it on my knees and slid the key into the lock. A perfect fit. My heart stopped and a huge smile formed on my face. I could feel every vain in my body pulsing and I thought I would surely explode from anticipation within another second of waiting!

I turned the key one way, but didn't hear the lock click opened. I tried the other way...still nothing. I jiggled it the lock for a second and heard it click. My heart was racing as I unlatched the handles on the sides and pulled the key free of the lock very carefully, setting it aside on the floor as I opened the chest.

My face was met by a punching aroma that shot right out of the opening box. There was cinnamon and cherry blossom and strawberry and so many other mixed flavors that my eyes closed instinctively to ward off the offending waft of smell and I had to take in a long, slow breath through my nose just to calm my high-pressured perception senses. After the smell had settled into the room, I let my eyes flutter open to take in the sight.

The chest had several scrapbooks and journals propped up against all four sides. In the middle was something completely unbelievable! The bottom was carefully covered in layer upon layer of many colorful, folded bandanas. Each one was different but had, as I noticed, what looked like initials on each and every corner. _A R _ was written in a little thorn-surrounded heart, exactly the same as that on the key. I even held the key up to them for a comparison: identical, other than the initials, which were unrepresented on the key.

Laying pointedly on the sides of the bandanas were several individual sticks of incense, obviously the source of the overwhelming smell, and more than half burnt down candles. Cautiously, I ran my finger across the binding of one of the scrapbooks, expecting to pick up a sheet of dust. They were completely clean, however, meaning the dim colors meant they were probably old and faded rather than neglected and dusty. I skimmed my fingers over the spines of all of them, reading the labels. Some were marked with things like "High School, Junior Year" or "Wedding and Honeymoon with Blake" and a date in handwriting I didn't recognize. The ones without descriptive labels simply had a year or two printed on the spine. Some of these were from almost 30 years ago!

I picked out the earliest labeled one, from 28 years ago, it said, and flipped to the first page. It was a scrapbook stuffed full to at least twice the thickness it was originally! It had pictures of Freedom Fighter camps, much similar to the one I'd seen earlier, and a lot of people standing in groups. They all looked so close. Besides the pictures, there were many trinkets taped to or in baggies stuffed between pages. Some frayed pieces of rope and a few nuts and bolts.

The next scrapbook seemed to be from a school for the most part. I recognized what looked like a younger Aleena standing arm in arm with a pink hedgehog that looked a lot like me! My mom. The only difference I could tell was that her eyes were a dark brown rather than my green ones and she seemed more toned than my wiry frame. There were report cards taped in and several pages dedicated to pointless doodles amongst the mess of pictures. At the last page was a short exert in the same foreign handwriting as the labels.

_Wow. It's over. Middle School, 8th grade, the best year of my life...everything! The school year has ended and I'm SCARED of life moving forward from here! I don't want to grow up. I don't want to be leaving all my friends behind, and I don't want to be kept in the dark as to what will be coming next!_

_High School. It's so big and so new! And I'm genuinely scared to be going into something that big and new so quickly! But I'm running out of time to be scared...and running out of room on this page. I don't want this to end, but it has to. I know from experience; when one thing ends, a new one begins. I hope that I'm right; that ending doesn't mean it's over, just that something else is beginning! Like this book. It's ending now, but that just means another book of memories will be beginning._

_-Amanda Rose,  
><em>_With a Brave Smile_

I smiled and closed the book very slowly, eager to get to the next one, but at the same time I wanted to wait a moment. To let the words sink in before jumping into something else. I breathed in slowly and picked up the next book in the order. "Freshman Year".

The high school books were virtually the same for each year. Pictures of friends, mostly her with Aleena, showing how they both grew and changed throughout those four years. Short stories or essays were taped or glued in every now and then, along with a few drawings and report cards and such. Some of the journals I read were for school and several were documents of plots among the Freedom Fighter group she had been in. She had met my dad her junior year and they and Aleena had all gotten along wonderfully.

One particularly large journal I picked up, I opened to discover a very full folder stuffed in the dead center. The folder was overflowing with sheets of music! It had guitar chords, intricate piano songs, and even some vocals and lyrics! I read the entries about concerts and different bands, all with Aleena and Blake, or Dad I guess. That's where Aleena had met Jules, Sonic's dad I learned later. Apparently, they had all been music lovers and gone to a Freedom Fighters' concert just about every night, playing in a good third of them. But at least that explained where I got my musical talent form; Dad had proved once that the piano was NOT from him! I felt sort of guilty for leaving it behind so long ago. And then I found one entry that was particularly creeping me out.

_I think I need to give up my music. It has always been such a big part of me, almost what defines me even! But lately...I haven't been feeling it like I used to. It seems empty. And it terrifies me! Like every key I play is hollow and soundless. It's so scary, maybe I should just take a break._

_I haven't told Blake yet. I'm afraid of what he'll think; its always been something we've shared and done together. But I don't want him to give it up for me. I want him to still play, just not with me anymore. _

_Don't let go of the music because I did. Make it stronger to make up for me! Play louder to fill in where I should be! Play more often to do the practice I would have! I want to see you go all the way, my dear Blake, even if it means leaving me behind along the way._

_-Amanda Rose,  
>With hearing Ears<em>

That was exactly how I had felt ever since the dream! I was afraid to play and that the music wouldn't flow through me the same way as it always had before. And now I'd gone so long without playing that I was afraid the music had left me behind.

I looked down into the box and realized there were only two books I hadn't gone through yet. One was the scrapbook from her and my dad's wedding and the last was a journal from about the same time plus one year or so. I opened the scrapbook to find the first few pages pictures from Aleena and Jules' wedding and a few pictures of Aleena pregnant. When it got to Blake and my mom, Sonic had been born and looked absolutely adorable in his 1 and a half year old sized tuxedo. He sat in the seats of a small-looking church with a few older versions of some Freedom Fighters I recognized.

There were pictured of my mom in a dressing room in a big fancy white dress and of my dad in a very handsome tuxedo of his own. Even I had to admit, as creepy as it was, that he looked stunning and my mom radiant! There were several pictures of Aleena comforting her and trying to clean the mess of make up from her tear-stained face. I had to wonder if it was from worry or excitement. I decided on the latter by her eager expression.

Finally came the pictures of her walking down the isle and of their first kiss as a married couple. I smiled as I turned the page to that one. And on the honeymoon, several pictures of them hugging and sitting together on a beautiful beach. It brought tears to my eyes to see how happy they both were! What could have possibly ended my mothers life so suddenly after this? Then I remembered the last journal and immediately opened it up.

_Blake and I just returned from our honeymoon. And I'm pregnant. _

_This is all happening so fast and unexpectedly...I'm not sure what to do. I'm terrified! I wasn't done being a kid yet and now...now I have an unborn child of my own to worry about! But I'm not upset, by any means. I'm so full of joy that it turns into worry. What if I'm not ready? What if I can't take care of this child like I so desperately wish I could? I've been fighting Robotnic for as far back as I can remember. I've seen him do horrible things and break apart so many families, Blake's among them and he's driven me away from mine for years!_

_I don't know if I want to bring a child into this world. I don't know if I safely CAN with Robotnic around! I know one thing is that I can't remain in the Freedom Fighters if I wish to safely raise this child._

_-Amanda Rose,  
>Terrified for More than just My Life<em>

I flipped a few pages forward to another entry:

_We're moving. My Blake and I are moving away from here to escape Robotnic. He's been closing in on us for some time now and with the birth of my daughter so close now, I just don't know what to do! So it is all I can think to do to get us out of here. Now. Before it's too late for my precious Amy._

_-Amanda Rose,  
>Already Missing All of My Loves<em>

I read the next few pages about my birth and how my dad had insisted on giving me my mother's last name, Rose. I had to agree with him on the point that it was more interesting than "Harold", Dad's original last name. I didn't blame him for taking my mom's last name when they were married. And then I came to the last page written in the book, the last book. And it explained everything.

_Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl of many extraordinary talents. She was so independent and enthusiastic and never shied away from a challenge! She had dedicated her life to doing what was right, which was fighting an evil force called Dr. Robotnic. She lead a group of Freedom Fighters, wonderful people just like her devoted to fighting for the side they believed in, from the time she was old enough to understand the war to be fought. She was very smart, talented, and dedicated to everything she did._

_Hearing the story of this amazing girl, most people would think that she was absolutely perfect. That she always knew the right thing to do and that everyone loved and appreciated her. Most people are wrong. Because they don't know this girl. No one knows this girl, not even her._

_Because I am her. And I am so conflicted. Ever since I was little, I've tried to choose the path that will make people love me. The path that will make them appreciate me and see me as more than nothing. But so far...it hasn't been going so well. _

_Being the best I can just makes everyone expect more out of me. Sometimes more than I have to give. Working so hard and giving my all every day is exhausting; I can't just sit down and breath anymore! But I won't give up. I'm fighting this war for the ones I care about, even if none of them care about me. I'm fighting this war for my mother, who died nobly in its midst. For my father, who was taken by Robotnic. For my best friend and closest ever companion Aleena and her son, Sonic, who I already know will be such a joy as he grows up!_

_I am doing this for everyone who has ever been hurt by Robotnic. For everyone who has ever suffered from his destruction, mayhem, and purely heartless evil. I'm leaving tonight to do my part to protect my wonderful husband Blake, whom I truly hope will forgive me for leaving. And I am doing this for Amy. My daughter who, even at just a few days old, I feel such a strong love and devotion for. I do not want her to grow up to the same fate I did. I have to do everything in my power to change that for her. _

_I love you, Blake. And I hope you will continue your life and take care of our beautiful daughter, Amy. I'm so sorry to be leaving you, but just know that it is FOR you that I am going! So that you and Amy can live out from under the shadow cast by Robotnic. So that you may taste the freedom from his iron grip that I hope to supply you with! _

_I will not be coming back physically, but I hope that some day you will remember me again. And that you will continue happily and live your life fully without me. I love you all so much!_

_~Amanda Rose,  
><em>_Forever yours_

**Awwww! :') OMG, was that not the sweetest thing EVER? Sorry if I sound conceded, but I just reeeally like that! Review because I can't wait to post the next chapter and I can't do that properly without reviews first! ;D**

**P.S. My other story WILL in fact wait until this was is over :)**


	9. Lost In Me

**Heya readers! I got some really nice reviews on the last chapter so, even though it's a _Thursday _(don't be fooled; Thursdays have a lot to do with life) I've decided to update! Plus, I know I left yall in suspense with that last one, so here's some more for ya! Damn, I LOVE this story! Hope you guys do too, and you can let me know with reviews! ;D**

Tears stung my eyes, threatening to fall at any given moment. But they stayed locked inside for some reason I didn't seem to understand. All those years of hiding inside my own self had caught up with me...just when I was beginning to want out. The journal remained clutched so tightly in my hands that my knuckles were going white. But I stayed frozen, transfixed by the last haunting words.

_~Amanda Rose,  
><em>_Forever Yours_

Even not looking at the page, that was all that I could see in my head, in front of my eyes, behind my eyelids. Everywhere I looked...there they were. The last words of Amanda Rose...my mother's last words. Being blinded by that lingering sight...I guess that's what caused the big surprise when I heard my dad's voice drifting to me from the doorway...soft and weak. Like he was hurt...vulnerable. And that was a new way for me to see him.

"I thought you might find it soon," he said. "I wasn't trying to hide it anymore, after all."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" I asked. I wasn't sure how, seeing as how my throat refused to even take in a full breath right now...much less did I think words would be a possibility.

"I was trying to hide everything. From you and me. Everything. I'm so sorry, Amy, for everything I've put you through. I was just so hurt...so lost and confused without her. I tried to drown my sorrows in empty pleasure...but it could never fill the void. And you were, _are_ so much like her...I was afraid of you. I was afraid of being with you and remembering her. I thought it would hurt too much...but now I understand that I've just been hurting us both more by avoiding this. Avoiding _reality_ when what we needed was closure."

"Daddy," I whispered, unsure how I should react. My breath came in heaving gulps now and hot tears began to stream down my face, painfully slowly. The book fell from my grasp but my fingers remained in it's formed position...as if the ghost of the book were still there...just I couldn't feel it.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated now leaning beside me and pulling my frozen body into a hug.

"What happened to her?"

There was a long pause, in which he broke the half-hug and held my shoulders tightly, looking into my eyes. I could barely see him behind the cloud of tears with those lingering words imprinted on them.

_~Amanda Rose,  
><em>_Forever Yours_

"She wanted us to be safe. She wanted _you_ to be safe! So she went to see Dr. Robotnic, just a few days after you were born. It was risky enough on its own, going to confront him single-handedly, but she was well aware of the danger. She erased all records of me from his computers and put in some programming that kept them from being able to track me again. You were given all new records anyway, since you were an infant, but she gave me a clean slate as well. After that, she blew up one last factory where they made robot parts and kept all data for our Freedom Fighter group...but she didn't get out before it extirpated. She died that night from protecting us and the ones she cared about.

"After that, I gave up fighting Robotnic and I was just so depressed for so long...I avoided you as much as I could, I'm sorry to say, and missed out on the one thing she had sacrificed herself for. She's my martyr, Amy, and I miss her every day of my life. I just hope you'll forgive me for keeping it from you so long."

I didn't know what to say. I felt so conflicted, my head saying one thing while my heart said another...the whole time my stomach and throat both twisting into huge knots. But I wasn't angry with him or upset, like my heart felt. I wasn't in denial or ecstasy like my head was trying to convince me. I was confused. Conflicted. Unsure. I was...empty and numb. Frozen.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered again. "I moved us out here to try to forget everything I've done over the past few years...and remember what I did before that. I want to show you and tell you everything about her. But I can't unless you'll let me."

"I..." I couldn't speak. "I need to think," I was finally able to choke out, standing up, blindly, and moving automatically to the door. Tears were no longer welled up or spilling out my eyes; they were frozen with me.

"Amy," he called after me, and I stopped with my hand on the front door knob. "I love you," he said.

I was touched and taken aback...but I didn't turn around. I didn't dare face him until I had my thoughts sorted out. So I ran. Out the door, into the woods, and away from the house.

_~Amanda Rose,  
><em>_Forever Yours_

Why couldn't I see anything? Not even where I was going beyond those ghostly words haunting my every thought; my every sight! Branches slapped and scratched my face and arms...because I couldn't see. But I kept running. I couldn't turn back now! Not until this all made sense!

Why would she die, _kill herself_, for me? In what way was I special? Especially if she didn't even know me! How could she? I was only a few days old? Why couldn't she just stay so that none of this would've ever happened? I could've been _normal! _I could've had a gentle mom and a _caring_ dad this whole time! But she had left us. She had left _me!_ Before I even knew her.

I don't know how long I ran...but I got very far. It must've been noon when I left, or close to it anyway, and as I looked up into the afternoon sky I could tell I'd been running for almost an hour straight now. I took in a breath and realized how tired I was all at once. My lungs felt like they were collapsing, begging for more air even though I was already sucking in as much as I could in each breath. My feet gradually slowed but, seeing as how they'd grown used to the movement, didn't stop for several minutes.

When I was finally able to grip my hands around the trunk of a small tree and stop, I felt my legs shaking and the muscles so tight and burning in each calf. I continued my erotic breathing, feeling so constricted not only by my lungs, but by everything! All the trees seemed too close, closing in on me. Just like reality. My life, my past...closing in around me. I felt suffocated.

I slid the the ground, breathing heavily and making no attempt at being quiet with the breaths. It was all so much! I couldn't breath enough. I couldn't think straight or feel right...it was just too much. The world was fighting me and, even as I fought back with everything I had, I was losing. Everything was attacking me now. The trees, the air, the sky, and those words. Those painful words that I would _never_ be able to not see playing across my mind.

_~Amanda Rose,  
><em>_Forever Yours_

"Forever," I choked, tears rapidly spilling out my eyes.

I was crying hysterically within seconds; this must be a panic attack or something! The world began to blur and spin, everything still too close to me for comfort. I felt my head fall against my shoulder and a headache hammer into me in one sharp moment. So hard that it knocked me right out.

…

**Well, hope you liked that chapter...because it's not over yet. Lolz! This is my late April Fools joke, sorry. Just a random AN in the middle of the chapter...because it was going to end here and then I decided to make it longer...**

**So yeah. I think I've distracted enough. Idk, I'm just weird. Now BACK to the actual chapter! :P**

…

I thought my eyes were finally opened...but I couldn't see anything. I looked around for a moment, trying to make sense of things, but the movement of even just my eyes caused a wave of discomfiting headache to roll over me. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to blink away the haziness; get back to full consciousness. It took a moment, but I finally found myself back in my head...the memories of earlier washing over me. I couldn't get up, I couldn't speak, and I could barely move. I was able to pull my knees to my chest, making myself into a tight ball for security against the forest floor. There were noises all around me, but one that stood out as recognizable was yelling in the distance.

"Amy..." came the distant voice, growing more prominent with each yell. They came at aproximate intervals of a few seconds and, since I was just starting to come to, I wasn't really sure how far away they were. "Amy! … AMY!"

My hearing was finally restored and I could tell that the person calling me wasn't too far away, but not within sight. I did, however, see a beam of light cutting through whatever this darkness was the disabled my sight. It couldn't be night already, could it? I wouldn't have been passed out for that long.

"Aaa-MEEE!" the voice called, droning out for a long time this time. I heard sobs now too, sounding much closer than the voice. Distinct sobs; the cries that I recognized better than anyone else. Peach.

I blinked a few more times as hard as I could, trying to see through the darkness and forced myself into a sitting position. Another hard blow of a migraine pounded at me and made me so dizzy I was threatened to fall over again. I pushed past it somehow and was able to remain sitting up, trying to remember how to speak.

"Sonic, I heard something!" Peach yelled frantically. So Sonic was the one with him.

I heard a slight rush of leaves and then I knew Sonic was standing with him on the other side of the bush to my left. _I'm right here! _I was trying to send them signals with my mind, but the thinking just worsened the effects of my pounding head. I felt dizzy again and leaned back against the tree behind me, the trunk feeling cold and hard against the exposed skin of my low-backed shirt. I shifted around as much as I could to give hints of my location and after the longest three seconds of my life, heart pounding and head throbbing, I saw Sonic emerge from the bushes with Peach so close behind him that I was sure he would run into Sonic if he suddenly stopped.

"May-me!" Peach was the first to exclaim, jumping towards me as the flashlight in Sonic's hand brushed over me. I squinted against the light and he turned it to the ground, just as Peach slid up to me on his knees, wrapping his little arms around me lovingly. I tried my best to ignore the wave of discomfort and hugged him back lightly, blinking a few more times.

"Are you alright?" Sonic asked, his voice full of concern.

I cleared my throat, testing the ability to make sound. It worked, also refreshing my memory towards the art of speech. "Yeah. What..."

"Sonic, I need to go tell them she's okay!" Peach exclaimed, standing up and taking off, grabbing an extra flashlight from Sonic's hand along the way past.

"Peach, be careful!" I yelled, about to stand and go after him when I realized that my legs and head both protested the movement with a horrible throbbing ache.

"Hold on, Amy. No worries; he knows where to go. The others aren't far away."

"Others?"

"Yeah, my mom and your dad. We've been looking for you almost two hours now!"

"Wait, if my dad's there we have to-" I tried again to stand, but a dizzy spell overtook the action and I nearly fell. Sonic put his hands out around my arms to catch me in time, though.

"Slow down, Ames; everything's taken care of," he said, holding me firmly in place.

"No! I need to-" I felt my heart beat pick up its pace and I started to feel overwhelmed again. I had to stop this!

"Shh, it's okay," Sonic said in a soothing voice.

I felt my body shaking. I was still panicking, despite his words of comfort. "But I...I need to..." I tried to speak between breaths, which were now coming quite rapidly together.

"It's O.K. We just need to get you back to the house first so you can calm down. Everything's taken care of; let's just go back and get each others' side of what happened, okay?" his voice was so quiet and consolatory, I actually allowed the gesture as he pulled me against his body in a hug. It felt nice.

I nodded in compliment and tried my best not to let the string of tears spill back down my face. Sonic pulled back enough to give me a quick smile and then brushed one hand swiftly under my knees so he was holding me bridal style. I gasped quietly at this sudden motion but didn't feel any need for resistance.

"Just relax, okay? I'll have us back in ten seconds tops," he said, shooting me one last reassuring smile before he took off at an impossibly fast speed.

We shot through the tree like a bullet and, like he said, were standing back in front of the house within seconds! "How did you do that?" I asked, amazed by his speed.

He shrugged modestly, pushing through the screen door on the side of the house. "Talent, I guess. I'm the fastest thing alive," he grinned and it would've been hard _not_ to believe him after that. "You wait here while I go and get the others," he said, setting me down on the couch. "Need anything before I go?"

I shook my head and he nodded once, taking in a deep breath before blasting out again. A few minutes later he, Peach, Aleena, and my dad were all sitting in the living room. I felt my eyes widen as Peach and my dad both sat down at the same time. What had I missed?

**Okay, this is the actual ending now...of this chapter anyways. 8O Amy's dad knowing about Peach? Or is it a trick? I know, but you guys will have to wait until the next chapter (which will fall from the sky randomly as soon as I get some reviews ;D)! Okay, so chapters don't really fall from the sky...but I'm kinda glad. Because then I'd get so bored every day of my life I'd end up studying Calculus or something! Come on people! I'm not even supposed to be a junior yet! Oh well.**

**Anyway, REVIEW! Hope you guys liked it and...yeah, I'm still not sure why I put a random AN smack dab in the middle of this chapter...I guess I thought it was over and then realized I didn't want it to be yet and didn't have the heart (or the common sense) to erase it. Whatevs. Hope yall liked it; Byee-nee!**


	10. Family, Mine

**Gah! How the hell did it take me so long to write this? What was it, like 25 days since my last update? That's too long! *Infinite Exclamation Marks!* So...Now I feel so ashamed :( And especially because one of my readers (Nickyy) reviewed saying it would be totally cool if I waited a little longer between updates if I could do chapters a little longer...but this one isn't really any longer than the others *_*' so feh. Screw me! You guys are all so awesome if you're still reading this, and-...I'll shutup now and let you get on with the chapter (Lord knows I've made you wait long enough) riiiggghhhttt...**

**jk**

**NOW! :)**

"Amy, are you alright?" my dad asked once they had all settled down a bit.

I nodded and tried not to wince as a blistering pain swept over my head. I grit my teeth and shook it off. "I'm...fine."

Before another word was said, Sonic jumped to the kitchen and back in the time it took to blink and I found him offering an ice pack out to me. I gladly accepted and leaned my head back against it on the couch, feeling some of the pressure taken away. I mentally sighed with comfort.

"Thanks," I told him and he nodded while sitting back down. "So...what happened?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," my dad said and then sighed, obviously trying to relax. "I'm sorry...you just had us all so worried."

"How long was I gone?" I asked; it couldn't have been _that_ long, right? I mean, it was already dark out...

"It's half past midnight now, so-" he was saying, but I stopped him there.

"Wait, so that means I was passed out for almost _12 hours?_"

"I suppose so. You ran out for some time to think around noon, right? I just wanted to give you some time alone to gather your thoughts, but then hours passed and...Aleena arrived some time around four and we started looking for you an hour or two after that."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, turning my gaze shamefully to the floor.

"It's not your fault, sweety," Aleena consoled.

"I was just so confused. I never knew any of those things and...I guess it was just too overwhelming. By the time I stopped running I was too tired and intensified by everything that I just gave out," I explained.

"It's not your fault. I'm sorry you had to go through all this at once; it's a lot to swallow," my dad said and Peach scooted slowly onto the couch, gripping my arm close to him.

"I...uh..." I said nervously, afraid to acknowledge his presence without consequence.

"It's okay, Ames," Sonic said, reaching a hand over to my shoulder. Ames? When did I get a nickname?...although I kind of liked it. "He knows about Peter."

"It's Peach!" he corrected and I allowed my eyes to catch the hint of a smile on my dad's face.

"I'm sorry Dad," I said quietly.

"We've both had our secrets," he told me, "but I think it's time to give them all away. I want to move up and on if you will with me, okay?"

I nodded, still too shocked for words.

"He's a very sweet boy. And I'm proud of you for taking on so much responsibility and keeping him safe for all this time. But things are different now, okay honey?"

"Okay," I said quietly, but found it hard to stop a smile from pulling at the corners of my mouth.

"I want us to always be open with each other from now on. I've missed so much of your life already, and I don't want anything like this to keep us apart any longer. We're all going to be a family now."

_Family._

In the past, this word had been so distant; so foreign! Someone might as well have just mixed up some random letters and threw their sounds together to make as much sense to me. But right here, right now, it changed. It changed into something that made sense. Something that I wanted and _needed_ rather than knew nothing about. And it was something I had. Now.

"Blake, I think she should rest now," I heard Aleena saying in the corner of my perception.

"Hm, right. Amy, would you like to go up to your bed or stay down here for tonight?"

"Can I stay right here?" I asked, unwilling to move from the nice, sunken sofa that I was falling deeper and deeper into as I sat.

"Oh course, sweetheart. Peach, you come with me and I can get you ready for bed; you're probably about ready to pass out by now, aren't you dear?" Aleena was saying as she helped Peach up from my side.

"Mhm. Night night, May-me!" he called on his way down the hall with Aleena.

My dad came over and put an arm around me. "Good night, sweetheart," he said, lightly kissing the top of my head before heading down the hallway to his room.

"Good night," I echoed and took in a slow sigh to calm down. That left just me and Sonic in the room.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked me after a moment of breathing into the silent stillness of the room.

"Yeah...just..."

"A lot to take in?" I nodded. "That's understandable. We got the rest of the story when my mom and I first arrived. Peach stayed at the Freedom Fighter Camp for awhile and Bunnie brought him back some time around 5:30 and asked where you were."

"Wait, so how did my dad find out about him? Did they just walk right in here and-"

"No no! Bunnie would never be that careless! After your dad told us the whole story, he was starting to get worried about you and asked if I would know anything about where you were. He's not completely ignorant, you know; he did notice that we were _both_ gone this morning," he said and I couldn't help but blush slightly.

"Oh," I said, feeling rather awkward.

"Well anyway, I explained to him that I had taken you to the camp last night; he had gone in to check on you after we finished eating and that's when I left last night. I told him I'd make sure you were okay and everything, but then we ended up staying at the camp. You're dad had left this morning to meet my mom in town and ask if she'd seen us."

"Okay. And were you still at the camp then or did you go with your mom?"

"I stayed at the camp for a little while, but my mom called around 10 and said that your dad was on his way to town and I met them there."

"Alright. But wait, we went back too far now. How did he find out about _Peach?_" I asked, remembering the original topic question.

"Oh yeah! Heh, sorry; I get off subject easily sometimes," he said, scratching the back of his neck in a cutely awkward way. Wait, cute? 0_0 I think I might be suffering fatigue...yeah, that must be it! Delusions and all that...right.

"Uh...that's alright," I said, feeling my cheeks go warm. What the hell is up with that? I don't _blush_! Especially when there's not even a good reason to be blushing! Ugh; I am going insane.

"Anyway," he continued, "he told us everything and then started getting worried about you. He asked me if I thought you were back at the camp and I called down there to see. Bunnie answered and said no but Peach still was and it turned out he was listening to the call and got worried when he heard we didn't know where you were. Bunnie said he started crying and I was getting scared since no one knew where you were so I said for her to bring him over. She did and he introduced himself to your dad and said that you'd been taking care of him for some time now. We all thought your dad would be mad about it, but he ended up really...I guess either happy or proud. Maybe both but-" I cut him off there.

"Wait wait wait, go back a little bit. Peach introduced _himself_ to my dad?" Sonic nodded with a sweet grin on his face. "And he wasn't mad?"

"No, actually. I was kinda nervous at first. I figured we wouldn't have to tell him without you here at least; I just wanted to get him over here to calm him down and ask if he might know where you'd go or something. But then once he was calmed down a little he went and stood right up in front of your dad and said 'sir, my name is Peter and May-me's been taking care of me ever since she found me back in Empire City'."

I had no idea Peach would do something so bold! He always seemed so quiet and timid when even _discussing_ my dad! I figured he'd avoid him at all costs if left to his own devices. "And then my dad..." I began for him.

"At first he seemed skeptical and just looked at him really hard. Then he cracked a smile and actually laughed for a minute and gave him a hug so big I wasn't sure if he could breath."

"You're kidding!" I accused, no hint of sarcasm in the phrase.

"Nope; not on bit. When he finally calmed down he was just saying 'welcome to the family' and all that and how he couldn't believe you'd been able to manage a child all by yourself for all this time. It amazed him; especially how well you'd kept him safe and hidden all that time."

"That's unreal. And he wasn't the least bit mad that I'd been keeping secrets from him all this time?"

"Keep in mind how bad he feels about keeping things from you all along," Sonic reminded me. "You could probably get away with murder before he started in on the discipline; you'll be home free for awhile I expect."

"Hm...I never thought about that."

"Yup. And as for Peach, I think him and your dad are getting along well so far and I expect it will only get better at this point."

"Wow, people getting along."

"That's what family's all about," he said. And there was that word again.

I breathed into the word, trying to make it calmly overtake my brain system. Family. It was real. And not just that; it was mine. To share and be shared with, to agree and argue with, to teach and learn from, and to live with and love. _Mine._

"What was that?" Sonic asked and I opened my eyes. I hadn't realized they were closed.

"Hm?" I asked. I think I'd just now almost fallen asleep.

"You kind of muttered something. Were you asleep just now? You were awake twenty seconds ago; I've never known someone who could fall asleep that fast."

"No, uh...I don't know. I think I was kind of between sleep and awake."

"But what did you say?"

"Oh...I think I said 'mine'." I admitted and then realized how stupid that must've sounded. I felt my cheeks going red again. Geez! I NEVER blushed! Never before anyway; something about this guy must've been getting me. Or maybe it was just because I'd never really _socialized_ with ANYONE before...that could do it I guess.

"Why?"

"I was just thinking...how you had just said that about 'what family's are all about' or something, right?"

"Yeeah..." he drug out the word a few extra syllables.

"Well...I'm just still trying to take all that in. You know? I never got the whole 'family' thing, but I'm really starting to lately."

"Okay. Well that's cool," he smiled genuinely. It seemed like that was the only way he ever smiled. It was comforting.

"Mhm," I mumbled, trying now harder than ever to keep my eyes from falling closed.

"Sorry, am I keeping you up again? I should really let you sleep I guess."

"Two nights in a row; tisk tisk," I said, putting on an irritated facade.

He chuckled once. "Well, there's plenty of time to talk in the morning and everything, so I'll let you sleep now."

"And you?"

"Oh I'll go to sleep soon too...just I'm more used to sleeping outside."

That was kinda weird. "Why?"

"I've been staying at Freedom Fighter Camps for a few years now. Before that I'd have a tent in our backyard sometimes and sleep on the roof others. I only really stay in when it's raining or something."

"Even in the winter?" I asked, kind of flabbergasted.

"Yeah, it's not that bad...except the snow. That kinda gets on my nerves to wake up covered in snow."

"How would you sleep through it anyway?"

"I thought you were tired," he pointed out.

"I am! Just...I also like talking to you," I admitted.

"Well it's easier to talk without fatigue." he said. I fake glared and he let out another chuckle. "And on that note, I bid thee good night."

"Why the Shakespeare?"

He shrugged. "Night Ames," he said, getting up and stretching a little.

"Better," I replied. "Good night, Sonic."

He gave me a smile and thumbs up. It seemed like a common gesture to him. I returned the smile but by the time I blinked, he had disappeared from the doorway. I took in a slow, calming breath and let my head fall against the pillow. I was greeted with that rush of relief you get after a long day or a long time without sitting down, and then find it so easy to do so when you get around to it. Like the definition of bliss. This thought accompanied me all the while until the four seconds of consciousness ended, and I was deep into sleep. So deep, I figured a rock would probably be easier to wake up than me.

**...Yeah, I fail at endings. Or that one anyway...but I REALLY wanted to update today and there's not much time left in "today" so I figured it was now or never! ...and by never I mean somewhere between Saturday and Monday...**

**Anyway, PLEEEEASE don't hate me for this mega-delay! I'm SOO SOO SOOOOO sorry this took so long! But...I have to be honest with you...I've been avoiding fanfiction lately...I was suddenly...scared of it (don't ask; my explanation isn't worth the time it takes to tell it [to most of you anyway]. But (hopefully) I'm over it. Well, I guess we'll see after this update...I should probably get a councilor; I get paranoid by EVERYTHING! No kidding! Anyway, I'm sure none of you care so MOVING ON!**

**Wow, I hope you guys aren't too made at me for this ultra delay! :( I know I'm mad at me; I went from every other day to MORE THAN HALF THE FREAKING MONTH with no warning WHATSOEVER! I know you're all mad, so I will allow (even encourage) flamers to come forth and "hit me with your best shot" as they say in...my parents' room :/ But seriously, I deserve it. **

**Anyway, my laptop is about two minutes from dying and I'm too lazy to get the charger, so ending here.**

**Review are helpful, whether you forgive me or not! **


	11. Beginnings

**Hey yall! Who missed me? :) OMG I LOOOVE THIS CHAPTER (AND LEFT THE CAPS LOCK ON TO PROVE IT!)! I'm not going to do an author's note at the end of this one, just because I love the ending especially and I want you all to be able to review with those last words rather than mine! Thanks for all your amazing reviews and I hope you all enjoy this new installment! Oh, and for those of you who are curious, no this is not the final chapter! For one thing, I like doing epilogues as my final chapter of each multi-chap story and for another I absolutely despise ending on an odd number! XP But, that's just me and my OCD's. **

**By the way, my previous fanfic paranoia is nothing you guys should worry about. I'm not being hacked or reported (that I know of 0_0) and it's all just me being a nervous wreck about anything with potential to expose my inner self to those who are used to something entirely different. Basically, this whole account is supposed to be a secret, but my sister just so happened to stumble upon it and...yeah I don't wanna talk about it :'( but anyway, _hopefully_ I have her convinced not to bother reading any of the stories but, like I said, I have mega trust issues and so I can't help but feel guilty and cautious even though _she's_ the one who was snooping around my phone to find out about this anyway!**

**Well, that was a long author's note that none of you probably cared about. Sorry just...well you know. Just gotta say it sometimes, even if no one's listening. Anyway, hope I'm not too rambling, enjoy the chapter, and please review!**

"May-me, are we leaving yet?" Peach asked excitedly, practically bouncing up and down.

"Give me just a sec, hun; I need to finish packing everything."

"But Daddy and Sonikku are already there!" he said. I sighed and smiled. This was why I never let him sleep as late as 10:00; it only ended up in him being so hyper all day.

"Peach, do you even know where we're going?"

"Yes! Sonikku says it's a fun park and that I'll really _really_ like it there. That's why we have to _hurry!_" He was now hanging off my arm as I stacked plastic cups in our large cooler.

"You could've just gone with Dad if you had wanted to get there sooner," I pointed out.

"But I like to stay with _you,_ May-me."

"Alright, Peach. Just a few more things to fit in here and we'll head out. You can go and put the backpack in and start the car if you-"

"Got iiit!" he called on his way out to the door, having taken off mid-sentence with the car keys.

I couldn't help but laugh at his adorable behavior. Over the last few weeks he'd really come out of the little shell I'd built around the two of us so that we, along with my dad and Sonic's family, were all very close. Peach had quite a charm that he'd put on everyone and I could definitely see him becoming more comfortable and outgoing. I was sure that the scared little boy I'd found no more than half a year ago was pretty much gone by now, replaced by the fun loving ball of energy that had wriggled right into all of our hearts. It was hard not to love him, but he was still far from being spoiled or disobedient.

Finally, I had everything for our evening crammed into the large cooler and set off to the car, dragging the heavy thing along behind me. I set it on the ground outside the car to open the passenger side door and found Peach sitting there, smiling up at me sheepishly.

"You know the rules," I said, trying to keep a strong front against his defenses of cuteness. "No front seat unless the drive is less than five minutes. And it'll take 15 or 20 to get there, so slide on back."

"Okay," he agreed, climbing back to the seat behind mine.

I hauled the cooler up into the seat and closed the door, jogging around to the one on the driver side and hopping in to the car, which had already been started by Peach. I put my foot on the break and shifted into reverse, swinging the car around and then, after shifting back to forward, pulling out into the long driveway. Ten minutes later we were cruising down the highway with the top down, heading towards the described location from my dad and Aleena.

It was about 3:00 when we pulled up and Peach hesitated for only a second before jumping out and rushing to the table where he saw my dad, Aleena, Sonic, and a few other people, some of which I hadn't even met yet. I took my time navigating the car into the perfect parking position next to a silver Sedan and then went around to get the cooler and backpack we had been instructed to bring.

The bag wasn't so heavy once slung over both of my shoulders, but it was tricky getting the cooler out without smashing my foot. After that I had to use both hands to lug it off the parking lot. Sonic however, was one step ahead of me, literally, meeting me just at the edge of the parking lot and sliding his hands around the handle, prying it from my grip.

"You know, you _could_ warn me before appearing so quickly every time," I fake-scolded.

"Aw, but what fun would that be?" he joked. "What do you have in this cooler?"

"Let me think...lemonade, water, cups, a few beers, hamburger and hot dog buns, condiments," he cut me off there.

"Alright, I get it. Pretty much everything that you knew we'd forget."

"We split the list evenly; you guys got the chips, hamburgers, and hot dogs, right?"

"Well _yeah!_ And of course the chili; wouldn't be a picnic without all that."

"Chili?"

"For chili dogs," he explained, sounding shocked that I didn't know that already.

"Okay, sure. I mean, you can't have a picnic without chili dogs, right?" I teased.

"Oh don't even _joke! _If you're telling me that you're not in love with chili dogs then-"

"Ehem," I stopped him, "vegetarian mean anything to you?"

"Oh, right. Meat rebellion. We're gonna need to do something about that."

"Hey, I'm fine how I am. And if it doesn't have meat sauce or something I can always try chili on a soy dog." Sonic shuddered.

"That's just sick," he sighed and I rolled my eyes. "Well come on! Let me introduce you to everyone!"

I followed him over to the table and set down the backpack on the ground. I said hi to my dad and Aleena along with Cream, a little bunny with a pet chao named Cheese, and her mother Vanilla, and Sonic's 'little brother' Tails, a two-tailed fox. Sonic introduced me to his father, Jules, who had been out of town for awhile with a traveling Freedom Fighters project, and his two siblings, Sonia and Manic, who had left home to start some preparation for college coming up in the fall. There was also a bee named Charmy I'd seen around the camps a few times, accompanied by Vector, a crocodile who, as it turns out, was like his guardian. Then there was Knuckles, a red echidna I'd had the..."pleasure" of meeting about a week ago and who had already assumed the role as my self-proclaimed "older brother" once he learned who I was and everything. Apparently I had been very popular with all these people before they had even met me.

"May-me," Peach said, tapping my arm just as I sat down with the others. "Can I go swimming with Tails and Cream and Charmy?"

"_May_ I go swimming," I corrected, "give me a minute first, though, and I'll go with you, okay?"

"Okaay," he said, sounding a little disappointed as he watched the other three walk off.

"Alright, I'm coming," I said, fawning frustration as I stood to follow him over to a huge lake.

Peach jumped up and dragged me along after the others. We caught up with them at the edge of the lake, where I found Vector and Vanilla were already waiting to play the role of lifeguard. I might have trusted him to go if I'd known they had someone to watch them, but I'd still feel better about being there with Peach myself. It was hard not to be overprotective of him a lot of the time, but I was getting there.

Peach threw off his t-shirt, since we'd both come to the park with our bathing suits underneath our clothes seeing how it was close to the hottest part of the year, and hit the water in a bounding run. I sat down on a brick wall built around the little beach area and relaxed, trying not to let the bright sun bother me. I wasn't quite hot enough to get into the water, but it probably wouldn't take long in this heat.

It wasn't long before I started to feel the sun soaking through my skin and making even my veins start to feel like they flowed warmer than normal. I took off my own button-down t-shirt and was about to jump in the water for a minute to cool off when I found Sonic all of a sudden by my side. I jumped up from the wall in surprise, my feet landing in the remains of a cool wave they had recently been lapped against the shore. Seriously, this guy was going to give me a heart attack!

"Must you _always_ do that?" I shrieked, trying to recompose myself.

"Yes, I must," he smiled, offering a hand and pulling me back up the two feet I'd fallen from the bricks. "You wanna take a walk with me?"

"I should probably..." I let his eyes follow my gaze over to Peach.

"Vanilla and Vector will keep an eye on him. Unless you just would rather stay; I understand if-" no, I hadn't meant to sound uninterested! I was getting bored here anyway!

"No, I'd like to go. Just...maybe I should make sure they don't mind keeping an eye on him or-" now he cut me off.

"You worry way too much. Seriously, you're 16 and you talk like a grown up. Liven up; they don't mind. They're here for Charmy and Cream anyway; it's just natural to keep an eye on Tails and Peach if they're all together anyway."

"Well...sure. Why not?" I agreed, trying to relax enough to walk away. I grabbed my put my shirt on over my arms but decided to leave it unbuttoned until I was cooled off more and waved goodbye to Peach, gesturing to the grownups across the beach so that he nodded his agreement to behave. Not that I'd expect anything else anyway.

I relaxed a little and stopped thinking about it as I fell into pace by Sonic and felt a relieving coolness in the shade under the many trees of the park. It was a very nice big place about halfway up one of the mountains around here. The lake went out farther and wider than I could even see and the beach, though rather small, was so pristine and inviting that you didn't mind as much that it was about the only place right out in the sun.

Trees shaded the many picnic tables scattered about, each equipped with its own grill, and a few shelters were placed around the parking lot, along with a few restrooms. There were paths leading off in just about every direction and I followed Sonic across the park to one leading in the exact opposite direction of the beach. I couldn't help but glance back a few times, noticing just about everyone had gone to the water now. There weren't that many people there, probably because of the combined elements of the heat and the fact that it was a Tuesday afternoon; not exactly primal park time under normal circumstances.

"So, any idea where we're going?" I asked.

"Half an idea...at least. Just wanted to take a walk and I though I might invite you. You can go back if you'd rather..."

"No, I don't swim that much to begin with; I was just gonna cool off but the shade's better anyway."

"Hm. Well thanks for coming with me,"

"No problem," I said as we rounded a corner on the path and lost sight of the others. "So why don't you want to just go swimming?"

"I, uh..." he began awkwardly. "I...can't swim. Water is like my only weakness," he admitted.

"_Only_ weakness? So, like, nothing else bugs you?"

"Noo," he said in a slightly surprised tone.

"What?" I asked.

"You don't think it's weird or lame that I can't swim?"

"If I could get away with having just one weakness, I wouldn't be picky."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, brightening quite a bit. "So what are some of your weaknesses?"

"Oh gosh, now you've got yourself a list. Let's see...I'm really squeamish about blood; like, seriously, I'll pass out if you even mention it sometimes."

"Really?"

"Yeah! That's one of the several reasons I don't eat meat...which I guess you could call another weakness. If I eat it by accident, which has only happened twice because the delivery guy mixed up my order, my stomach gets all knotted and sometimes I puke."

"Ew. I couldn't imagine not eating meat forever!"

"Well I can't imagine eating it as a regular thing, so we're equal."

"Okay, so that's two things; what else?"

"Well...I'm deathly afraid of snakes."

"Even non-poisonous ones?"

"I don't know the difference! I'd just rather keep my distance with all of them than tempt fate, thank you very much."

"Anything else then? Claustrophobic, afraid of heights, seasick or any of that?"

"None of those; I like smaller inclosed spaces and I'm one of those crazy types who looks down from a cliff and wants to jump."

"Why?" he asked, sounding more curious than shocked.

"Well, you know...just to see what it would be like. That one moment a free fall so fast that you don't even have to worry about what comes next...or at least that's how I imagine it would be." I said and was surprised to see smarmy look on his face. "What?"

"Do you trust me?" he asked, turning to me suddenly and moving a step closer.

"W-what?" I asked again, kind of nervous.

"Do you trust me?" he asked again, sounding a little anxious now.

"I...I guess so. Why?" I said, trying to convince myself still that I trusted anyone.

"Just...keep trusting me, okay?" he said, now with both of his hands around mine.

"Okay," I answered without even thinking. How was he always able to trap me in his gaze like that?

A split second later, he had my arms slung over his shoulders and that he held me piggy-back style and took off at his impossibly fast speed. Before I could even react, I saw the edge of a cliff up ahead. And it was high. I couldn't even yell before he had taken off from the side. That was when I realized how right I'd been; the free fall was amazing, but ended much too fast. Before I knew it, the moment of gliding had ended and we landed, somehow perfectly intact, under a thick canopy of trees far beyond our takeoff point.

I was dumbstruck. How could I not be? We had just fallen about 70 feet down from a cliff and he had landed perfectly; _easily_ even! I think it would be a little weirder if I _didn't_ pause all reality in my mind to gape at this feat! I mean...like...how? Just...HOW?

"Are you _insane?_" I yelled once my voice had finally been recovered. He set me down and I saw his face fall slightly, definite guilt and regret playing across his eyes. He was about to answer, but then I cracked a smile and, for no reason I could come up with, burst into insane, maybe even hysterical, laughter. "That was...ehem...crazy," I chocked out between fits of laughter.

"Are you okay?" he said, eying me suspiciously. Now he probably though I was crazy, but who cares? _He's_ the one that just dragged me over the edge of a freaking CLIFF!

"Fine," I hiccuped, trying to swallow the giggles still bubbling out of my throat.

"Maaybe you should sit down," he said, sort of pushing me onto a nearby rock. I still couldn't control the laughter. Eventually I just let my head fall with a hard thud against the rock to try to knock the crazy out of me. It somehow worked...and hurt a little.

"I'm sorry. Usually I'm much better with insane stuff like that; I think you gave me my first panic attack."

"Aww, you're welcome," he laughed, sitting down by my side and placing his hand on my shoulder. I was still lying sideways on the rock.

"Well...that was weird."

"I'll say. I mean first you're scared, then mad, then suddenly neurotically happy, and-"

"Hey, I wasn't _neurotically_ happy; just you freaked me out."

"Right, and everyone laughs maniacally when freaked," he then said, poorly hidden under a cough, "bipolar."

"I am NOT bipolar! I mean, I can't be any more screwed up in the head than _you_ if you think you can just go cliff diving with no reasoning whatsoever, much less to drag an unsuspecting victim down with you!" I scolded, but he seemed to either be ignoring me, or didn't care. Gr, he was really pissing me off now! But no more mood swings or he'd stick with the whole bipolar thing for good.

"Alright, sorry or whatever," he muttered, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly.

"You're so genuine."

"Thanks! Now, if you're done with your whole temporary mental breakdown thing, would you like to keep going, or head back?"

"It's not that late. Besides, how do we get back _up_ the cliff anyway?" I said, looking up at the towering rocks behind us.

"I've got it covered. No worries; even if we go far, I'll have us back in five seconds flat."

"Well alrighty than, Mr. Smug; let's keep going."

"If you're up to it," he said, and I could totally hear the challenge in his voice.

I stood up with as much swagger as I could and began walking in the opposite direction of the cliff. He jogged for a second to catch up with me and it only took about two more steps after for me to relinquish the angry facade. What fun would this be if I was mad the whole time, anyway?

"I am sorry about scaring you," he said, now more genuine.

"No problem; I wasn't really mad, anyway. Just teasing, you know?"

"Right. I figured you weren't the type to hold a grudge for long. Sonia, though," he mock groaned, "if we do one thing to annoy her, she's after us the whole day pretty much."

"Sounds like fun," I laughed. He smiled as we found an almost path through some bushes. "So how do you know we're not gonna get lost."

"Aha, that is all thanks to my extraordinary sense of direction, dear Amy." I involuntarily smiled when he said 'dear', and then mentally slapped myself. This was all stupid; why do I always end up so giggly and...melty, for lack of better words, when I'm around him?

"Well I guess you'll have a good chance to prove that in a while, huh?"

"Guess so," he smirked and I bumped him lightly with my shoulder.

He bumped me back, of course, only a little harder. So I bumped him harder and it continued until we just bumped at the same time and ended up just sort of pushing against each other. It was amazing to me how comfortable I was with the close proximity, but...I really liked it for some reason.

"You're smiling now," he said after a minute and I turned my gaze up to his eyes. He had more than a few inches on me, so from this close to him I actually had to look up to see his face.

"Yeah," I said. "And?"

"Well, remember that first night we talked? Back then you didn't smile, or at least not right. But now you're really smiling genuinely."

"Well a lot has changed since that night."

"I know. Is it ever overwhelming to think that just a few months ago everything was..." he trailed off.

"Overwhelming, yes, but...in a good way. You know? I was always afraid of anything shifting or changing before but now that it has, it's hard to remember what things were like before. Like my life didn't really mean anything before now. Everything's so new...I guess it just feels like I'm starting from the beginning."

"Wow," I felt his body relax against mine so that we were no longer pushing up against each other so much as being pressed together on a whim. Why was I so calm with all of this? "You're a very amazing person, Amy," he said, catching me 140% off guard.

"What?"

"It's true. To go through everything you did and come out unscathed is just...remarkable. You don't seem to have any problems or regrets."

"I don't. I'm moving on now and trying to leave everything in the past."

"That's really cool," he said and I felt his arm twist around mine. It sent a chill up my spine, but it felt nice.

We both stopped walking for a moment, I'm not sure why, but we did at the same time like both of our feet had planned this against our knowledge. I closed my eyes and took in a long, calming breath. The air was nice. Hot and full of earthy smells; under the shade of the forest was probably the best place I could've been right now. Once I completed the breath, I opened my eyes and found Sonic now standing in front of me. I would say too close for comfort usually, but right now, all I felt was comfort. Like, for once, I was really supposed to be right here right now.

I cocked my head slightly to the side, as if on reflex, as an involuntary way of wondering everything at once. He smiled a little and placed one of his hands, the one that wasn't wrapped together with mine, across my left shoulder and neck. Somehow I knew exactly what was going on, and yet didn't understand it at the same time. And before I did, I realized how close we really were, how close I wanted to be to him, less than an inch apart. But that closeness still wasn't enough; it only made me want to be closer. So I stood on my toes, making me nearly his height, and thus closed the distance between us.

Was this really a kiss? It was so...different. So foreign and incomprehensible. But at the same time, I felt like I understood everything. Like this is what life was _supposed _to be like! Not harsh and brutal, but soft and slow and sweet. This was the better part of life; the part I hadn't even learned was real until just now. And I was so aware of it that I got lost in thought, barely even realizing what was going on, but also fully aware and excepting and even longing for it.

Sonic's hand had made a firm but soft grip on my neck and collar bone, holding me where I was for as long as I didn't try to pull away. Our right hands were already clasped together, but tightened their grasp as the kiss continued. My free left hand had gone around his arm and was holding onto his shoulder so that we were completely pressed together. And it was all perfect and comprehensible.

I officially had no air left. Breathing through my nose wasn't substantial oxygen amounts for very long at this proximity, and my lungs felt like they were beginning to cave in. With great reluctance, I pulled myself slowly away from him, taking in a sharp but quiet breath. Even with the lack of air, everything was perfect. So clear and focused and...right. How could anything be like this? This nice and good? And yet here it was, right in front of me! I just had to hold onto it and never let it get away. This beautiful, wonderful life. It was so easy.

My eyes began to brim with involuntary tears, but it wasn't from confusion or hatred or anything like that! It was because of the opposite; everything was too perfect for me to not let it out. And just like that, I felt the thin lines of moisture sliding down my cheeks and I didn't even care. Sonic must have noticed, because he switched positions so that both of his arms wrapped around my waist with his hands locked together against the small of my back. My right hand, now free from his grasp, wrapped around his other shoulder in mimicry to my left. I laid my head against his chest and let the tears of overwhelming joy fall freely as he held me.

We were both silent, enjoying the closeness of one another for a lingering moment. He held me tight against him and I couldn't have felt more comfort from anything anywhere ever.

"Tell me about your life," he whispered slowly, his breath like a gentle breeze against the top of my head.

"It _started_ with a kiss..."


	12. Endings

**Yay! I'm back! Finally, huh? But yep, here it is. The next chapter, because, as I said, this story is NOT over yet! Nope. In fact, after this chapter, I'm fairly certain I still have a LOT of plot to cover. But you don't have to take my word for it (or...I guess you do, since I'm the author) so read on!**

We arrived back at the picnic area not too long later. The first thing I noticed was my dad, who was miserably failing as he tried to flip burgers on the grill. I groaned and jogged over, stopping him just before he sent what looked like a third hamburger between the rungs of the grill.

"Dad, stop! Who would intrust _him_ with the tongs?" I asked to pretty much everyone.

"Hey, he's the entertainment," Manic laughed.

"I guess I forgot about the food poisoning tradition at these things," my dad laughed. I rolled my eyes and tried to salvage the burgers before they were too charred to flip properly.

"We've had to rely on _Sonic_ to carry out that tradition a few years now," Knuckles teased. "And, believe it or not, he's worse than you."

"Ouch. Now that hurts, Knux," Sonic droned monotonously, only proving his sarcasm.

"Vanilla, will you pass me a few more burgers?" I asked and put four more on the almost-empty grill as she complied.

"So how did you learn to cook so well when your father was such a mess?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I was never really that good; just enough to not rely on takeout every night. I think I got better once Peach came along too, since that was better than pizza every night."

"What's better than pizza every night?" Knuckles asked, more curious than taken aback, seeing as how he had just entered the conversation.

"Ice cream every night!" Manic announced and a wave of laughter hit us all in unison. From what I gathered, Manic was famous for causing those.

After a few more minutes, we had a tray piled high with hamburgers and hot dogs and a smaller plate with a few veggie burgers. Vanilla went to get Vector and the kids who were still swimming and I had to avoid Peach's dripping hug until I had him wrapped up in a towel. Jules and Knuckles, having claimed the role of the buff guys, pushed two picnic table together like they weighed little more than my backpack so that they stretched end-to-end like one super long table.

All thirteen of us crammed onto the benches with the food spread equally down the middle. On one side was Vector, Vanilla, Aleena, Jules, my dad, Manic, and Sonia, who proved to be the most mature of the younger group. Across from them was Charmy, Cream, Tails, Peach, me, Sonic, and Knuckles. Once seated, the organized food was almost immediately demolished as everyone made a grab for buns and burgers/hot dogs, chips, and drinks. With all the chaos around us, I really felt like I fit in...which was weird, but I guess everything was so hectic and being a part of it made me feel like one of the group. I'd felt like that a lot lately.

Everyone had finished eating now. The grown-ups stayed at the table talking for awhile and the rest of us took to the playground and such. Peach and the younger kids went to the playground and the rest of us headed to a volley ball net. I sat on a bench and was just going to watch, since otherwise there was an odd number of players, but as it looked, Knuckles wasn't going to have any of that.

"Come on Amy! You have no idea how many years these three have been bragging about how _awesome_ a team they make! If you'll just be on my team then Sonic, Sonia, and Manic can play together and we'll recruit Jules or Tails or someone!"

"I don't want to play," I complained.

"Please? Please _pleeeeaaase_ please?" he begged, giving me a puppy-dog look that only proved to scare me slightly.

"No! Wouldn't it be easier to just play the game how it is and use the _even_ number you already have?"

"That's like asking if it would be easier to swallow four more weeks of mocking from those know-it-alls!"

"Knuckles," I wined.

"Amyyy," he pouted even bigger.

"Ehem," we looked over to Sonic, who was tapping his foot impatiently on the other side of the net. "We're waaaitiiiing."

"Oh come on! You don't want me on your team!" I hissed, trying not to let the other three hear. "I've never even _played_ volleyball!"

"What?" Knuckles was much louder than me. "That's absurd! And all the more reason for you to play NOW!"

"No it's not! Why not, like, a practice game or something as a first game? I know _they're_ serious about this and I can't imagine why you wouldn't. Why risk the game just so I can play?"

"It's no sacrifice! Ever heard of 'beginner's luck'? Duh!"

I groaned. "I don't _want_ to play!"

"Too bad. You're in!" Knuckles grabbed my arms and then proceeded to drag me off the bench and onto the sandy volleyball court. I slouched down in resentment to try to make it harder for him, but he just rolled his eyes and tossed me across his arm.

"No, no, no, no, no no, nooo!" I complained as he plopped me down near the net.

"ANYONE UP FOR A GAME OF VOLLEYBALL?" Knuckles hollered in his naturally booming voice, so loud I covered my ears.

Only a moment later, a lot of the others had filed over either to watch or play. Jules was the first to step forward to play, followed closely by Tails, Charmy, and Vector.

"We only need one person," Manic said, then turned to Knuckles. "Unless you're up for four-on-four."

"You're on!" Knuckles exclaimed. "I'll even let you have Jules! It can be like a family thing! Charmy and Tails can play for us; Vector, you're best at calling scores."

"Alright!" everyone agreed unanimously...except, of course, me. But, being out ruled, I decided to respect my defeat with some dignity...as in trying to switch places with Vector before Knuckles noticed.

"Nuh-uh! Amy, you're playing, like it or not," he scolded and I groaned, letting him sit me back up at my spot at the closer right corner near the net. I was right across from Sonia, who smiled sweetly and gave me a quick thumbs up. "Okay...any idea how to play?"

"Not a clue," I said, though that may have been an exaggeration.

"Five minutes to warm up, you guys! Sonic, send me the ball for a bit! Ouch!" Knuckles called, taking a volleyball to the arm. "Okay, I'm gonna be across from you at the back left corner, meaning I'll serve first. We rotate every time someone scores in a clockwise direction and whoever is in the back left serves.

"Uh, basic rules...no more than three hits per side, and every time the ball touches the ground or net, the other team gets a point, as long as that was the serving team. The ball can graze the net when you serve, plus, since it's your first game, we'll give you a few practice serves your first time up. When returning a serve, you're only allowed to bump it. Okay...anything else? Oh yeah! Boundaries. You're allowed to serve from right outside the boundary lines, but otherwise the ball shouldn't leave the sand area. Got everything?"

"Uh..."

"Great! Let's warm up. We're just gonna volley this clockwise for a minute and then we'll get started. Ready guys?"

"Yeah!" Charmy shouted eagerly as Knuckles stepped back into his spot.

"Alright, we're going clockwise, so heads up, Tails!" Knuckles bounced the ball to Tails, who immediately sent it towards me. Wait, shouldn't he pause for at least a second or something?

"Ah!" I shrieked (yes, an actual shriek) and covered my head with my arms. "I wasn't ready!"

"Looks like you should add 'volleyballs' to the list!" Sonic laughed across the net.

"Ignore him," I muttered.

"No big deal," Tails tried comforting. "Try serving it to Charmy."

Charmy perked up and nodded vigorously. I sighed and bumped it to Charmy, who immediately returned it back to Knuckles.

"Yeah!" Charmy cheered as the ball bounced a few times between Knuckles's hands.

"Good job. I'm gonna pass it to Tails now and then you, Amy, so be ready this time," Knuckles said and I nodded as he passed it to Tails. I saw the ball coming towards me only a second later. I squeaked slightly, but reached out to hit the ball, sending it away from me and towards the excited bee. "Nice! Let's just keep going and see how many rounds we can get consecutively."

We continued to volley it around the circle, having to restart at longer intervals as we all got warmed up. Finally, everyone was warmed up and ready to start the game. Knuckles got the first serve of the game and Manic returned it to Tails. We volleyed it a few times back and forth, I even got in a hit or two without missing, until Charmy spiked it so fast that Sonia couldn't catch it in time.

"Point, Knuckles!" Vector shouted in his even-louder-than-Knuckles voice.

"Woo! Switch servers! Charmy, you're up!" Knuckles shouted and we all rotated.

Charmy blasted the ball over the net in a super-quick serve, but, of course, Sonic returned it with ease. Knuckles spiked it back and Manic dove, bouncing it up to Jules, who hit it at me. I got to it, though, but Sonia and I got in a lock so that the two of us just hit it back to each other a few times, even though we were now across from each other. Then I missed one time and, as Tails tried to catch and hit it back over, it went out of bounds.

"Sonic's serve!" That was scary.

Sonic hit the ball so fast and hard that, despite the rule, Knuckles literally _had_ to attack it to get it back over. Vector looked tempted to call him on it, but shrugged it off because of Sonic's ridiculous serve. The game continued for almost an hour, with a water break every here and there, and it was almost 7:00 when things began nearing an end. Sonic's team had 25, but since we had 24 they still needed another point to win. The rest of the group had come to the benches to watch the end of the game by now.

Even I was getting into the game! It was Charmy's serve and, waiting for one of them to get distracted, he slammed it over the net and right at Sonic's feet. He looked to Charmy, eyes wide, and glared, returning the ball and staying dead focused now. Now we were tied, so whoever could score two more points won. Charmy served again, but Jules returned it swiftly, and sadly legally, towards Knuckles. He spiked it at Sonia who bumped it to me, then Tails. Tails hit it across, but it went slightly out of bounds and Manic caught himself before he returned it.

"Jules's serve," Vector called as their side rotated.

Jules served it to Tails and he bumped it back to Sonic. Sonic attacked and made Knuckles dive for it and bounce it to me. I jumped up and spiked it over to where, I'd noticed, was a weak spot. Right between Sonia and Manic, but closer to Sonia's back so she'd assume Manic had it, but too far for him to get to without a dive. Manic did dive, but the ball simply hit the net and rolled under.

"Amy's serve!" Vector hollered and I gulped, trying not to feel nervous.

We rotated and I took the ball, giving it my best serving spike across to Sonic. He returned it with ease, but Tails used his twin tails to drift up and give it a major spike at Sonia's feet. She glared and tossed the ball to me. I served it again, this time farther back between Sonic and Jules. Jules lunged and passed it forward to Sonic, who attacked it between Charmy and I. I bounced it to Charmy, who gave it one of his famous attacks towards the back middle between Jules and Manic. They practically ran into each other trying to get it, having to stop so they wouldn't and therefore missing altogether.

Everyone froze, staring at the ball, and we all went quiet for a moment.

"Game point..." Vector said, clearing his throat to snap out of the shock. "Knuckles's team wins!" And we all exploded into cheers.

We all yelled and went to Charmy's post to smoosh him in a hug. Knuckles made sure to get us all in a death grip, though. "In your FACES!" he shouted, after letting us all go for air.

"Rematch!" Sonic and Manic said together and the rest of us shouted "NO!" "Whatever; we'll get you some other time...and your little ball too!" Manic teased.

After a few more minutes of witty banter between Sonic and Knuckles, the crowd had almost completely dispersed. Once they were finished, we all decided to play a nice _friendly_ game of Frisbee before it got too dark. The younger kids wanted to play kickball, now that Tails and Charmy were available and went to set up tree branch basses. Manic found a Frisbee and Jules went to sit with the others, admitting to us wearing him out after some son/daughter pestering from the triplets.

The sun was just starting to fall and traces of pink and orange outlined the outer edges of sky. We took to a mostly open field and started tossing the plastic disk around the five of us. Manic and Sonic, by the looks of it, had the most steady throws, as it wavered little to none in the air when the tossed.

Knuckles kept throwing too hard so that Sonic had to run for it, which seemed just fine with him, and Sonia liked to show off with fancy around-the-back or under-the-leg throws the glided to Manic without a hitch. He threw to me and I'd do my best to get in a steady shot to Knuckles, but I'd never really played...well anything really before I came here. Which meant I still needed some work. Nonetheless, we all were having a good _quiet_ time for a good 10 minutes.

But I didn't realize that the chaos was just starting.

Because the sky started getting dark then. And it didn't even bother with the sunset. Or the moon and stars. No, it just turned, in almost an instant, to the gray kind of darkness that comes right before a storm. The kind I usually like to enjoy because it almost makes up for the raging thunder and lightening to come. But this wasn't a normal storm, and therefore unnerved me rather than comforted. After all, normal storms don't rain down instant demise.

I heard the screams before I saw anything, but once I did I know for a fact that my heart momentarily stopped. My eyes automatically went to the sky to see a huge machine descending quickly near the forest. Above it was a giant airship, the cause of the unnatural lighting, with several smaller metal vessels drifting out. My eyes widened in horror and I scanned the crowd to see a similar look on just about everyone's face, except Sonic, who looked nothing but enraged.

In the distance I saw the little kids panicking as the robot landed and immediately shot a blast of fire at the picnic table only a few yards away from ours. Too close. The grown ups had quickly abandoned our table and were making a wild dash for the kids, who met them halfway as everyone started running for the parking lot. I stood frozen in horror, suddenly understanding the term "dear in the headlights" and watched as the machine practically encircled the area in flames. Most of the grown ups had began attacking it, along with Sonic and his twin siblings, Tails, and Knuckles.

"Amy!" I looked over to see that Vanilla had been calling me for a few seconds now from the other side of a still-developing stream of fire. "We need to get out of here! Come with me!"

I was still in awe of the situation and could do little more than stare, both at her and the fire that was quickly spreading around the field. I didn't _mean_ to be so distracted! But the gravity of the scenario was just too much for me to take in all at once. Which is probably why I didn't even notice that one of the smaller mechanisms was aimed directly towards me. Not until I felt my skin blistering with the flames that flickered closer my the semi-mili second, at which point I felt a jolt as Sonic swooped in pulled me away just inches before my incineration.

"Vanilla, go and get the others somewhere safe!" he yelled over the roar of the fire.

"What's going-" I started, hearing an edge of hysteria in my voice.

"Knuckles!" Sonic called and he was by our side only a few seconds later. "Take Amy to my house and keep her there awhile. I have to get back to the battle."

"What's-" but I was interrupted again by Knuckles this time.

"Are the others at the cabin or camp?"

"Cabin. You can call and tell them she's fine," Sonic said, his eyes darting back and forth between us and the battle. "I'll meet you there."

"Sonic!" I called, grabbing his hand before he could get away. "What's going on?" I tried to keep the waver out of my voice.

"This is a bad time to explain," he grabbed my hands tightly into his and looked me dead in the eye. "This is what Robotnic does. And what I do is stop him. I have to go now. Go with Knuckles and I'll see you soon, okay?" but his voice wasn't right. Not reassuring in the least.

"I can't-" I whispered, but he was already darting away. And I'm not sure if it was that or the burning smoke the was encircling me, but my eyes began to burn with tears.

"Amy! Come on!" Knuckles yelled, trying to pull me away from the scene. But it was too late; I'd already seen it. Everyone fighting, my dad included, and a ring of fire around them all. They were losing. "Amy!" Knuckles said again, louder now. "We have to go! NOW!" he waved a hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my trans.

I blinked and immediately regained control of my actions...and ran at the monster. Or started to, when Knuckles grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "No! Let me go!"

"Amy, STOP!" he yelled, trying to keep me from struggling.

"Let me GO!"

"NO!" he yanked me back and held my shoulders firmly, hitting a pressure point in the process so that I had to be still. "Amy, listen to me! This happens sometimes, and they know how to deal with it. You don't! Come with me to somewhere safe and I'll explain."

"No! I can't leave!" I cried, too neurotic at this point to _imagine_ giving in. I tried to struggle from his grip, but he was much too strong, and I could tell he wasn't even straining to keep me in place.

"I don't think you have a choice right now," and with that, he grabbed me up over his shoulder and took off towards the slightly flaming parking lot. I kicked and screamed the whole way, but it was really no use against the super-strong echidna. "You're gonna have to be still for the ride over; I don't want you to get hurt. Just listen to me until you understand and then I'll let you do what you want, okay?"

My lip was quivering and my heart was pounding. But he was right; I didn't have a choice. He put me on the front of a motorcycle and slid on behind me, making sure to hold on tight so I wouldn't try to make a break for it. Damn, he was smarter than I'd thought. We zoomed out of the parking lot and down the mountain so fast I could barely look back. But when I did, I saw the devastating sight of the sky full of smoke and ashes.

I felt tears begin to stick to my face as we continued at the dangerously fast speed, heading out of the mountains. Soon enough, we were just outside of one of the actual cities in the area. Knuckles skidded the cycle to a stop outside of a fairly big house, not quite suburban but still not as isolated as the cabin. With my movements still constricted by his grip, Knuckles dragged me to the door and pulled out a key to open it. I fell inside as he let me go and turned on the lights, blocking the door so I wouldn't try to run out again, even after he had shut it.

"W-what was _that_?" I exclaimed.

"We need to call the cabin and check in with the others," he said, trying to keep a calming voice.

"No, we-we need to..." I took a deep breath (or seven). I would probably hyperventilate soon. "What _was_ that?"

"It's like Sonic said; that was one of Dr. Robotnic's schemes. _That_ is what the Freedom Fighter's are for; stopping things like that before they get out of hand."

"Are you saying that wasn't _already_ 'out of hand'?"

"Well...I'll admit that was a little more well-planned than usual but-"

"But what? What if they need help? We have to go back and make sure they're alright!"

"Relax, Amy! Sonic does this kind of stuff all the time."

"My dad doesn't though!"

"But he used to!" and that's when it hit me.

I froze. My knees buckles and I slid to the floor. That was it. _That_ was why we left. Why _she_ left. This was the reason my life was how it was. Why I had, for all those years, been alone. And now it was starting again. I wasn't even sure if I was breathing, and if so too heavily, or if my heart was still beating. Knuckles moved me to the couch and sat down beside me.

"That's it," I whispered. "This is what his life _used _to be. Back with my mom. Right?" Knuckles's face fell and he looked nervous all of a sudden. "And this is why they left. She couldn't take it anymore. It was too dangerous."

Knuckles sighed. "It is dangerous. But that's not what's important. Everything...everyone! That's what we fight for! Not for ourselves or-"

"I know that!" I interrupted. "But why? Why would anyone make us fight in the first place? What could he _possibly_ have to gain that he doesn't have now?"

"Status, power, respect," he turned to me with a serious expression, "and victory. We're still fighting...because he's still fighting. If we lose the battle, then we all lose everything. And he knows that. That's why." I frowned, willing myself not to cry, and nodded. "They'll be okay, though. They're better than you give them credit for and most everyone has faced worse than this. The best we can do for now is lie low and wait. It'll be okay," he promised.

I nodded, knowing I couldn't keep from crying any longer. Knuckles squeezed my shoulder once for good measure and stood up. "Thanks, Knuckles," I whispered.

He nodded. "I'm gonna call down to your place now; that's where the others are. Are you gonna want to talk to Peach?"

I shook my head. He couldn't hear how scared I was. "Tell him I'm fine and that I'll talk to him soon."

Knuckles nodded and proceeded to the other room to call the others. I stayed on the couch. There was a lot to think about, a lot to worry about, and a lot to do. But I had to start somewhere. And the best place I could think of was at the top of the mountain, fighting with the others.

**:0 OMFG! Triple holy sumptins! Cliiifyyy! And I want to write more NOW! Buuut...it's 11:30, my laptop's almost dead, I've been "watching" Kung Fu Panda movies with the sibs for a few hours now without really seeing it, and I've got a horrible cold! So I'd say it's time to call it a night :/ But I hope to continue sooon! (Reviews will help with the matter ;P) No time to spell-check, so please forgive mistakes...especially since a puppy was chewing on my hands half the time I wrote this...she's teething. But whatever.**

**Hey, quick poll! Should Amy make it to the clearing or should Knuckles stop her or shal something by way of the universe get in her way to change her mind before she leaves? Still contemplating, and I'd love to hear you guys' opinions! Okay, thanks and goodnight! (And happy reviewing! ;D)**


	13. Escape

**Hellooooo readers! I'm back with another, quickly updated, chapter! Here it is! Lol, short note here; now read on!**

**(Sorry in advance for any spelling/grammatical errors).**

I made absolutely sure to sneak out the front door in close to complete silence. I let it latch in slow motion in order to keep Knuckles from hearing. Even as I stepped down from the front porch, I kept my footsteps even and quiet. I finally managed to get around the corner so it was a clear shot for the motorcycle, only stopped short only a few feet away. Because Knuckles was there, leaning casually against it and staring at me very firmly, a phone held to his ear.

"Oh, hold on a sec; Amy finally made it out," he said into the phone, cupping his hand over the speakers and turning to me to stare even harder. I felt like his eyes were drilling into me with guilt and...I don't know how to describe it well enough. Knowing, maybe.

"I...guess I'm kind of obvious," I choked out, turning to the ground to try to shake his stare. I still felt his eyes on me just as hard.

"No, actually you did pretty well. I would've expected you to be a little _more_ obvious since you were so freaked out. But you kept your cool well enough to get out quietly."

"Uh...thanks," I wasn't sure if I actually said that, because not even I could hear it if I did. I was so busted. "Who are you talking to?" I tried to change the subject.

"Tails; Vanilla's at the house with the kids but he took the phone to go to the camp and tell everyone they might need help on the mountain."

"Oh," well that didn't last long. Think fast, Amy! "Um...are they okay?"

"Not sure; I'll have to call the cabin as soon as I get off the phone with Tails. They split up already."

"Don't let me distract you, then. Finish talking to him if you need to," I said, wishing his eyes would fall out or something. Seriously! It wasn't a glare but it was such a hard look...it almost physically hurt! I had to wonder if he'd practiced that stare.

"Hmph," he shrugged and held the phone back up to his ear, though his eyes didn't leave me. I wanted to shrink away or melt into nothing. "Okay, so who all is going to the mountain now? … okay, good. You might want to take the plane for...yeah...okay, you've got it then. Yeah, but she's under control. Although let me know if you hear from Sonic; Amy could probably use some reassurance." his gaze softened almost infinitesimally. "Okay. You're a good kid, Tails. Thanks. Talk to me when you can."

He hung up and I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I allowed a quick glance up into the darkened sky, but didn't find any comfort in it. There was a small fleet a ships, smaller than the ones from the mountain, but at least three. And then four more that looked less like those, but they were still ships. I think that was the Freedom Fighters.

Knuckles followed my gaze, finally losing the concentrated stare as he did. "We should get back inside; it's safer in there." Well that was at least more reassuring than if he followed the same thing his face said, which was more like "oh shit, not here too!"

I nodded and followed as he practically dragged me in, refusing to let go of my arm so I wouldn't make a run for it. I guess I was choosing to cooperate now, happy that he wasn't going to be mad at me. Although, the stern look had probably made up for that.

"Sit down there; we need to call the cabin and make sure everyone got there safe." he must have heard me gulp because he immediately became more reassuring and less serious. "Not that I think anything did. Honestly, it's very rare to have injuries with the whole force on it like this and fatalities are almost heard of. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just standard protocol."

I nodded and took a seat on the couch where he instructed. He sat at the opposite end, closer to the door. "Knuckles, if there's 'nothing to worry about', why do you seem so nervous? You keep saying there's nothing to be afraid of...but I can tell there's something that's scaring you too."

He sighed. "Okay. But you have to promise not to worry if I'm totally honest with you."

I knew he was bluffing. "I'm already worried."

He gave me that same hard stare and I resisted the urge to slap him. "Fine. This is nothing we haven't seen before, trust me. We've all been fighting like this pretty much all our lives. But a few things are different this time. One is that we haven't seen any major action in quite awhile now, so this battle might last awhile to make up for it. That's the least of my concerns, though. We have enough to people to keep it under control for weeks without having to go full force and burn out our energy. It's just a lot more hassle this way."

"Okay," I said. That wasn't _really_ bad. Maybe that's why he started with that point of the matter. "What else?"

"Well...another thing is that...you're here."

"Me?" I tried not to let my mouth fall open in shock. "W-why would I make a difference?"

"That's just it! You shouldn't, and that's the problem. So far, you and your dad have stayed out of this for all your life. As far as Robotnic knows, neither of you even exist. If he happens to be here and recognizes your dad, e might get suspicious about why he doesn't have records of you guys anymore. And that might lead him to finding out what happened with your mom. What she did wiped out all evidence of the Rose family; past, present, and future. And if he figured that out, he'd..." he trailed off.

"He'd what?" I said, trying to fight off the subtle hysteria. "What would he do, Knuckles?"

"He'd learn about you. And...he'd probably make you a prime target. He'd come after you with a vengeance, Amy."

My breath caught in my throat and I choked slightly. "But he-He might not even-" I couldn't get out the words.

"You're right! Chances are more likely that he won't remember your dad. He was always very covert. But you especially need to stay out of this."

"Why? I want to help somehow!"

He smiled faintly, but it was a sad, sort of empty smile. The same one my dad and I had shared for many years without even realizing it. "He'd recognize your mom. You're her exact image, Amy."

I swallowed again and felt my eyes brim with tears. "Really?"

"Absolutely. I was about four when you guys left and I don't remember her perfectly, but...you reminded me the first time I saw you. You're Amanda's daughter and there's absolutely no denying that. Not even for Robotnic."

I gulped again even though it was useless towards swallowing the lump in my throat. I chill ran up my spine and I wanted to scream and cry and laugh all at the same time. I think I was going insane.

"Let me call the cabin really quick. Tell me if you want to talk to Peach or Vanilla or something." I nodded. I needed a moment of silence. He pressed the speed dial button and held the phone to his ear. "Hello...hi Charmy. Is Vanilla there? …yes, this is Knuckles. Okay, will you please get her? … Because I need to talk to her. Oh she's...what? Put her on now please, Charmy. Yes, now!" he sighed and waited a second. "Vanilla? What was Charmy-oh fuck. Oh, sorry! I meant crap, yeah. Is it...damn, of course it is. Should I...I know. What should I?..."

I saw his expression keep shifting but the phone volume was too low for me to hear Vanilla. "Knuckles is something wrong?" I managed to squeak, feeling my heart beat accelerate. His eyes met mine for just a millisecond and what I saw was worry and pure terror. Then he turned away and continued his conversation.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll tell her then."

"Tell me what? Knuckles, what's going on?"

"I'll do my best but...think about Cream. No I-"

"KNUCKLES!" I screamed, feeling like my heart was exploding out of my chest at its current rate. "What. Is. It?"

"It's Peach. He's...he got captured." and then my heart stopped completely. So did time for that matter. I felt a noticeable freeze in life and felt like I was gonna be sick.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked, trying to hold my breath.

Knuckles blinked, seeming like he didn't want to trust me, but he must have seen the nauseousness on my face because he quickly pointed to a hall off to the right. "First door on the left."

Without another glance at him I bolted to the designated place. Fear and sadness and anger and every other emotion rose up in my throat and I threw up as soon as I leaned in front of the toilet. Thankfully I had slammed and locked the door, because I could hear Knuckles stand up from the couch in the living room. I had to plan this just right. I felt horrible about it, or maybe it was just my now negatively filled stomach and burning throat, but I knew what I had to do.

"Amy, are you...?" I heard him start from outside, but then it turned into mumbles as he finished his phone conversation. "They let Tails know so he can make sure everyone works to rescue him, okay?"

I flushed the toilet and stood up, making a half effort to clean my face up with cold water and a paper towel. I opened the door and found Knuckles practically leaning against it, as he nearly fell into the room when I did. He was a lot taller and a LOT stronger than me, but I took that into account with my twelve-second plan. But I had the element of surprise. If I could keep that element under control. I hadn't practiced my skills in...well, ever. But I knew what they were and how to summon them.

He took a step back and I took one forward, causing him to take another back so that there was just enough space for me to squeeze past him. Not that he even noticed that one tiny flaw in his motion, which I could use to my advantage.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, blinking hard so that the few tears already in my eyes were shoved out.

"Amy, it's not your fault," he wrapped his arms around me gently in what was supposed to be a comforting hug, but I turned it into his complete downfall.

I hugged him back, but discretely, not even noticeable to him, wrapped my fingers around the key on the hook on his belt loop. Just as he was pulling back, I clicked the key chain and pulled it away, wrapping my fingers tightly around the precious cargo and making a mad dash for the door.

"Hey! Amy, stop NOW!" he commanded, but I was almost there. Just off the porch steps, which I'd jumped over anyway, he caught up to me, wrapping both hands around my waist and pulling me to a dead stop. "Amy, what the hell are you-AH!" that's when I used my secret weapon.

I giant piko piko hammer materialized in my hands and I used it as a threat to get him to let me go and jump back. I took a deep breath through my nose, having to concentrate extra hard so it didn't disappear into the conflicting thoughts flooding my head. As soon as he was far enough away to take action without hurting him, I smashed the hammer into the sidewalk, making sure it wasn't just empty molecules that collided with the pavement (which was harder than just holding it as a threat). While he was distracted, I took off again and jumped onto the motorcycle, jamming the key into the ignition and flooring it out of there. I took a slow breath as I got onto the road and concentrated on making the hammer disappear, which was more tricky at a distance, but I felt it return to myself, which meant it was gone from the sidewalk with no trace other than a slight crater in the ground.

I took the motorcycle up to a ridiculously dangerous speed, but didn't bother to slow. My plan was set into action, and it had to happen in the same instant it was planned. One second of a missed beat...and everything was gone.

**Haha! I am the master of action sequences! Now who hates me?** **Everyone? Someone? No one? Hopefully the last one! Because I've got more for you! ... just not today. Probably. But anything's possible! I will tell you now though, I wouldn't be surprised if this chapter had a few more mistakes than usual. I wrote it in the car yesterday, which is very headaching by the way, during a three hour there and back trip to my Dad's family reunion. And I get car sick. Very car sick. So it was the best I could do not to short out my laptop with puke or something. :l**

**Anyway, I've noticed lately that not many people have been reviewing my story. Not to be pushy or anything, but if I could get a few more reviews on this chapter that would be really reassuring so that I know for sure there are still people reading this. Okay, thanks guys!**

**Will update for reviews!**


	14. Planning, Plotting, Falling Down

**Hello! Back with another chapter! Thanks so much for all the reviews; they really helped me to know there's still people interested in this ;D I'll apologize in advance if this chapters kind of short and I'd like to let you know now that Amy isn't quit herself that I've established so far in this story here. She's a little more darkly humorous and self sarcastic, which-I think-makes the chapter a little more lighter, adding a sense of joking to the otherwise hopeless situation. I will let you know, though, this is mostly because she's in the midst of a mental break down, but don't freak out. I wouldn't have said that if it was a spoiler, so it's not some permanent asylum crazy thing that we'll see throughout the rest of the story. No, semi-crazy Amy probably won't last too long.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

I may have been scared to death and irrationally charging into a battle I didn't even know about that was more likely than not, according to Knuckles, taken care of, but I wasn't completely idiotic. During my short puking intermission while Knuckles was finishing his ominous phone call, I'd taken the liberty to actually prepare for my great escape. Now I was stopped out behind a drug store just a few blocks away from Sonic's house. At the speed I'd taken off at, he would pass right by me without even noticing if he followed at all.

I stuffed the motorcycle behind a dumpster and went for the (employees only) back door. It was closed and I knew no one was inside. The only thing I had to worry about was security alarms, which I'm sure would be ignored by the police anyway in the city's current state. So I tried the handle to find (what else) that it was locked. I gave a few hard bangs from my body against the big doors, but earned nothing besides a few new bruises. That's when my hammer made its second appearance of the day.

I stole off to the bathrooms and flickered on the dim lights inside. Not much to work with, but whatever. It would have to do. With that lighting as much of the store as it could, I made quick work with a bottle of hair dye, the first I grabbed, not even checking the color, and a few cases of make up I'd grabbed off the shelves.. Focusing intently on detailing my cat-eye style (thus changing the whole appearance of the upper half of my face) and two different shades of lipstick to make the shape look somewhat different. Along with all that make up, I'd used about four layers of concealer that totally didn't match my skin ton so that I looked about three skin tones lighter than my already lightish complexion. I also carefully placed a pair of colored contacts in my eyes, changing there light green into a more menacing purplish-red that even further changed the appearance of their shape.

My hair was stuffed in a plastic bag and I was still unsure of the color, but let that thought drift away as I ran to the clothes rack. There isn't exactly a lot of selection or style in a drug store clothing department, but it was better than nothing, especially since I was still in my swim suit from earlier. But, sticking to the plan, I grabbed whatever I could find that was black and switched my clothes for it back in the restroom. I turned out to be a mid-elbow length shirt that fit me snugly enough to leave a strip of my stomach exposed. The pants I had grabbed were about two sizes too big and pretty baggy, which was so not me, but I kept them because it would further disguise my look. I simply used a piece of rope to hold them up rather than searching for a belt. I went with natures shoes (feet) and decided my outfit was complete.

Finally came the grand unveiling of my hair. I pulled off the bag and rinsed the chemicals off in the sink and then looked up into the smudgy mirror. I'd kept my eyes closed towards it up until now, afraid of the outcome, and realized for good reason.

"Oh God," I murmured to myself and my eyes widened.

Because I didn't recognize the girl staring back at me in the mirror. At all. Different skin color, eye and lip shape, different clothes that made it look like I even had a different body shape, and much darker, black-cherry colored hair. I shook off the shock as well as I could, but found myself staring for at least ten seconds. At Myself. Ten seconds, I had to remind me, that could have gotten Peach closer to his death. Right.

Less than a minute later, I was ripping down the highway at no less than top speed. I guess this was as close to the phrase "beside myself" as I'd ever really been. Thing were happening around me so fast and without a blink that my decisions were made on their own. It was like there was this go-to attituded me controlling my actions that actually knew what she was doing, whereas I had just sat back and let her drive while I watched things play out in front of my eyes.

I breathed in a deep breath, which was tricky through the intense pressure of the wind on my un-helmeted face, and attempted to get my bearings on this new in-control self and coexist with both my personality and this totally mind-absorbing plan of mine. Or hers. The other me. Who seemed to actually know what she was doing and how to do it.

It was dark now. And the people were all gone. The skies had been coated over with clouds of ash, getting darker the closer I got to the mountain. I wasn't scared, though; more like energized. Pumped. Determined. Peach was in danger, and that's all that mattered right now. And how hard could it be?

I'd just get up to the mountain, get into that ship (which alone couldn't be too hard), get Peach and try to get us both out safely. If, for some reason, I was unable to do that, then at least I'd be there to keep him safe inside until we could get out, if ever.

I could tell that my hair was already dry, do to the maniac wind from the cycle, and didn't really give a damn how it looked, be it messy or wind blown I didn't have time to fret. What I was worried about was getting up to the mountain and getting into that ship, which I guess didn't necessarily have to be in that order. Considering the high possibility that I may be captured along the way. After all, I was the only living being anywhere _near_ the interstate, it seemed.

Then I realized I was at my exit already. So I put my hand on the break to try to slow from my 120 miles per hour to an almost not insanely suicidal 80 at most, considering it was the kind of exit that did a full 360 to round back onto the highway. I didn't like being out in the open of the interstate _or_ highway, but this was the fastest way there, and I needed all the fast I could get. Still, the turn would be both tricky and dangerous at this speed, causing me to lean into it so much the I was more or less sideways when rounding towards the middle of it. Which made it hard to see far ahead of me. Which is why I didn't notice until I was only a hundred or so feet away that a giant robot stood right in my path in such a way that said that, even if I smashed into it with the full force of a motorcycle doing 87 mph on a sharp turn, I wouldn't leave a dent as I was being obliterated against its very surface. Which is why I chose the more minor injury of choice and ditched the ride all together.

With every muscle in my legs and back straining together, I shifted the weight of the cycle to my left side, the way I'd been turning, and threw it out from under me. There was no way I was getting around or through this guy, but maybe without the bike I could get under him. I prepared for the worst and used my hands and arms as a shield over my precisely decorated face. The full force of the blow took only a millisecond to sink in, but when it did, it was hard. I felt my arms and shoulder scraping hard and deep against the asphalt and did all I could to keep from getting too jostled. I rolled a few feet before colliding with the leg of the robot and being stopped with a thud.

No time to spare counting my injuries (or blessings to have not died if you're the glass-half-full type), so I sprang back to my feet and ignored all the complaints being thrown at me from my body...or more likely screamed. Despite the fact I'd probably pulled every muscle in my legs, I took off under the robot and towards the highway, where I might be able to find a more reclusive place to run. But I was no Sonic...and I didn't have the (way unfair) advantage of rockets built into my feet. This made me both a prime and easy target. I was caught approximately four-and-a-half seconds later. Not that there was really a decimal-accurate clock built into my head. Just guesstimating.

But it didn't really matter, did it? I was captured. Whoopee! And now (if it were possible to get some random stroke of luck to swallow the not-just-hard-but-stone life pills I'd apparently been taking by the bottle) it would maybe possible by some chance of fate and gift of the Gods take me to the same ship where Peach had been taken. I mean, I'm sure there weren't multiple captor ships out tonight, right? Hah! Not even _I_ was that unlucky...though I wouldn't doubt it at this point.

Well, at least during the two minutes, 17 seconds of flight up to the mountains (and it's sad that I was cheering about that) I had time to breath and think for a minute. I shoved my mind back into the same body that had been controlling my actions and hoped with the two of us together we'd be able to fight well but not screw everything up. That and I did a full evaluation of my injuries, from what I could gather. Honestly, I'd never been to a doctor in my entire life. When I was sick, I'd locked myself in my room with a bottle of water and some crackers and not come out (other than bathroom breaks) until I was better. The longest (and most boring) this had ever happened was once when I was 12, which lasted about eight days, not that my dad had noticed back then. Those were the days of nonexistence between the two of us.

As far as I could come up with, nothing was broken. My legs were both sore from using them to sling a motorcycle three times my weight off the the side full force. The left one probably had some torn ligaments in the thigh muscles, but other than that they were still solid and in one piece. I think I had some bruises on my ribs, but nothing out of place. My arms and shoulders were probably the very worst, where they had scraped so hard against the concrete. Honestly, it looked worse than it felt. This wasn't your average fell off your bike scratch (though I'd never ridden a bike, in all honesty). No, between my elbows and hands on the outside part of both arms, there was basically no skin. Nope, just a big scrape that had broken at least two layers of skin or more in some places.

My shoulders were badly scraped as well and seemed to have taken a good amount of concrete with them (that would be some fun peroxiding) and were in a similar state to the backs of my hands. My shirt had take a few rips at the shoulders, but not much else due to the way I'd been holding my hands to protect my face. The pants had the knees burnt out now and a small rip or two, plus I'd have to re-tie the "belt" when the robot quit suffocating me, but that was about it. Nothing deadly. In fact, it might even help me stay unrecognized. As long as I could keep up a strong front so that my eye make up would blend with the mood and look more natural than...disguisy.

But I made it to the ship in one piece and resisted none as the robot automatically flew in a side door. As we arrived, I'd noticed out of the corner of my eye a quick glance at the battle. Everyone seemed so focused and willing to fight...they weren't even being beaten too harshly. In fact, the effort everyone made almost made me think we had a chance. But there was just so much fire. So much to fight against still. I had to bite back tears; who knew if this camouflage was water proof or not? I didn't have the option to find out on sight. Especially now; if someone down there saw me...well, I was in for it. With any luck, this would happen without anyone noticing at all.

Yeah right.

**8O**

**Don't worry, the "Yeah right." is more just some of her "humor?" attempt at the ****situation, not a whole cliff hanger sub-plot thing. Agh! I keep spoiling things! That was supposed to make you worried! **

**Humph. Whatever. -.-**

**Okay, please review and I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can! :D Ooooh this is intense! I know you're all dying to read it as much as I am to write it, so review away my friends! Byyeee! **


	15. Lies and a Hell of a Good Time

**Helloooo readers! I'm back! Real note is at the end. Why do I even bother here? Enjoy the chapter! lolz XD**

"Three new prisoners ready for inspection, Dr." a robotic voice echoed through the long hall. The robot carrying me quickened its speed and, quite literally I must say, threw me into a cell, slamming the door quickly behind me.

"Egg-cellant," an annoying/annoyed voice answered and I heard heavy footsteps coming down the corridor. I was alone in the cell, but it was easy to tell the "two others" who had been captured were in the same hall. "Who's this first one?"

I heard a robotic scanning noise come from the other end of the hall and bit my lip as I saw a bit of leftover greenish light from the scan seep into my cell. "Two records indicated. Name: Peter Fisher. Parents: deceased. Record one: Orphanage of district 427 sector nine. Record two: one failed capture attempt after escaping orphanage. He has been out of sights and records for 214 days and three hours."

"Hmm..." the Dr.'s voice, Doctor Robotnic I'm sure, said contemplatively. "No further information necessary at this moment. Next prisoner."

I watched carefully as they both came just barely into my line of vision across the hallway. I made sure to watch closely and take mental notes as the robot scanned the eyes of a duck in a prison cell, trying to look intimidating rather than frightened.

"Many records. Freedom Fighter of this district. Name: Diana Rocher."

"That will be enough records. If she's a Freedom Fighter, that's room enough for robotisizing."

At this point I had made myself scarce in the darkest corner of my cell, crouched in a ready for action position. This would be fun.

"Shall we take her to the robotisizing chamber now?" the robot asked. I didn't know robots could ask questions.

"Not yet; identify the final captor first." Robotnic turned on his heels and was about to step towards me when another large robot intersected them in the hall.

"No more residential captures, Dr. Area is secure," it said.

"Wonderful. Now, let's identify the last prisoner so we can focus on the battle. I'll put all search bots on guard duty as soon as we finish up here."

While they were talking, I had taken the opportunity to survey my current incarceration chamber. There were no windows and only one door. It was empty other than a rusty bucket, as if anyone would call _that_ a toilet!, and a single sheet of thick metal sticking out of the wall for a bed. Very classy. But it's not like I expected a five star villainous layer or anything. I pushed some hair in front of my face, my dark, almost blood red hair. I swallowed hard and pushed away every thought in my mind as the fat man stepped in front of my cell. He was even uglier from the front, which was REALLY saying something!

"Now, who do we have here?" the doctor asked, scrutinizing me like he was trying to make me look familiar. I moved to the dead center of the room, right in plain sight, and sat down, crossing my legs over each other. I stared at him very hard, keeping my face emotionless. "Hmph. Scan now," he commanded the robot, which now scanned my eyes and then full body.

"No exact information matches. Person unidentified." the robot said.

The Doctor sort of growled. "What is your name, girl?" I said nothing and instead just continued to stare at him. "Did you hear me? I said, what is your name?" he demanded, obviously short tempered.

"Jeez, chill dude," I muttered, deepening my voice slightly and keeping the sound in the back of my throat so it wouldn't be recognizable.

"I'm not a very patient person, you should know," he warned, glaring at me. I took the glare as an invitation for my most creepy and intimidating face. My eyebrows lowered to their angriest position and my mouth curved into a huge smile, the kind you could do for all of 12 seconds before your cheeks got sore. He took a step back, seriously, a real step back!, and tried to hide his taken aback expression.

"I thought you might _want_ to wait to know _who_ I am until after you know why."

"Why what?" he asked skeptically.

I shrugged. "Why I'm in here right now, not putting up a fight."

"You people hardly ever put up a fight; even most Freedom Fighters are too scared to fight back."

"And do I look scared to you?" I raised an eyebrow and he seemed to take that into consideration.

"Take her to my Observation Dock; we'll talk there," he commanded and a robot opened my cell and took me out as he exited through the closest door with the smaller robot that had been scanning us.

We left through the other door and I stole a glance into the other cells from behind my hair. Peach sat huddled in a corner, eyes wide and full of terror. I softened sightly toward him as I felt a little dagger stab my heart at the sight of him. He must have seen my change in expression, because he blinked once and sat up slightly, but before anything else happened, the door closed behind us and he was out of sight. Or I was. Does it matter either way?

I, again, took note of every passage and turn we took on the way up from the bottom to top level of the enormous ship. A few minutes later, I was dumped in a much bigger room full of gadgets and controls with Dr. Robotnic just across the room from me. He didn't turn around from the monitor he was, well...monitoring until I had been discarded on the floor and the robot that had left me was back out of the room.

"Please, have a seat. Make yourself comfortable," he said, a hint of either sarcasm or annoyance, not sure which, trying miserably to be disguised by hospitality.

"Sure, that's cool," I said, plopping myself in big, soft, spinney console chair on my side of the room. I spun around in it a few times for good measure. He took a seat in an identical chair on his side of the room and swiveled around to face me with a serious expression that said to stop.

"Tell me, why are you so scratched up?" he gestured to my severely bloody arms and shoulders.

I gave a half shrug. "It was your damn robot. Practically knocked me out on the interstate."

"Oh did he now?" he probably couldn't have cared less in all honesty. Just a clever conversational tactic, bringing up someone's ripped open flesh as a dialogue introduction. Nice.

"Whatever. Just skip it and get to your point."

"You're very focused aren't you? I admire that," he said and it was all I could do not to gag. "Yes, well why are you here then?"

"Because your fucking Happy Patrol snatched me up. Duh," then I muttered, "for a proclaimed _genius_, you seem a bit dim."

He growled. "I don't exactly _tolerate_ sarcasm, thank you very much."

"Oh, you're welcome in advance. You'll love it by the end of this conversation!"

Now I saw him grip the arm of his chair and dig his fingernails into it as he muttered something in Angarian, a dead language that once belonged to many cruel dictators of the 14th century. "You convinced me to keep you from robotisization for the time being, but that doesn't mean you have any life security with me whatsoever. I suggest you cooperate."

"Sure, sure," I waved him off. "I just thought you looked the kinda guy who'd appreciate some intel."

He leaned forward in his chair. "I'm listening."

"To what? I wasn't talking anymore."

He clenched and unclenched his fists. "Alright little missy! You're either cooperating or you're done! Now which is it?"

"I think I'm done." That caught him off guard sufficiently and I took the chance to laugh at both him and myself. Seriously! His face was almost as hilarious as me right now! Man! I was on a roll.

"SHUT UP!" his voice boomed and I cleared my throat to stop the last of my chuckles. "Are you telling me you'd _like_ to be robotisized?"

"No, I was telling you about the weak link in your security. All the robots with a green strip on their arms? They've been bugged. In precisely six minutes and 48 seconds in counting, they'll all be going rogue and start fighting _with_ the Resistance. I suggest you shut them down now before it's too late for analysis."

His eyes widened yet again and he immediately turned toward one of the keyboards and started typing ferociously. Oh, who's the genius now? It's me! And the fact that I'd noticed that a good 80% of the guard and capturing robots had the same green stripe on their left arms was faboo-lus! But I wasn't done yet.

"You know, they've got a lot more going than you know of. Like those big fire breathing ones?" I paused until he had finished shutting a fair amount of robots down and turned back towards me.

"What about them?"

"Well, let's just say that their gasoline reserves will probably only hold strong against leaks for another few minutes and then...well, it won't be pretty for you or them."

"Really? Are you sure?" he asked, panic creeping into his voice. Oh, this was rich!

"Absolutely. The Freedom Fighters have probably already set the bombs in place inside them; there's no stopping it now. I suggest pulling the plug on the whole 'fire breathing' thing, which is, like, way cliché to begin with, and either get them outta there or get rid of the fire you've already made so that this whole country doesn't go cablooey." Okay, who knew I was this good at lying? But what the hell? He was listening to everything I said with an intense look in his eye and nodding in comprehension the whole time, so he was totally buying it like half-off ice cream! And to think this buffoon was supposed to be an evil _GENIUS! _Hah, that's a good one.

"Right! But...would it make me look like a coward if I just brought the bots back and retreated?"

"Well duh! That'll give the Freedom Fighters not only another victory for the tally bored, but a HUGE ego boost! I mean, they're _obviously_ pretty slick as is, but running away from your first fight that actually looks promising as defeat? They will be partying for weeks! And, trust me, that won't be the kind of partying you'd look for as a distraction."

He gulped and I gave myself a mental pat on the back, kicking my feet up and relaxing against the back of the chair. Robotnic, however, was far from relaxed as he frantically tried to shut down his fire-breathing robots and send in the remaining small-bots to clean up the fire. Just as he was sending out the last group for crash control fire maintenance, a robotic voice came on over the intercom.

"Attention Dr. Robotnic. Intruders have invaded through the docking bay and are headed up to the control center," and I let out a satisfied laugh. Probably the stupidest thing I'd done all day. And I'd been doing a lot of those today.

Eggman swiveled slowly around in his chair, although still fast enough to catch the fleeting remains of a smile on my face that had, in too slow motion, now turned to a look of horror and devastation. What had I just done? I'd given away this whole mission due to the stupid tell of my amusement! How could I be so careless?

"You. Little. Sneak," he growled through clenched teeth. "Attention ALL robot battalions! Report back to your original guarding and fighting posts IMMEDIATELY!" he yelled into a command microphone that only the robots would hear. Then he banged a few quick swipes on the keyboard and lunged across the room and grabbed me by my arms, tightening the grip around two of the only spots where the flesh wasn't torn open already and slamming me against the wall. "I'm going to ask you one last time. WHO ARE YOU?"

I tried to glare past the pained expression I'm sure now took up my face and shake off the pain in my arms, but with little success. So I spat at his face.

"Augh! Swat Bot G-96 hundred report to Head Observation Chamber _immediately_!" And within a second, there was a very large robot in the room, grabbing me away from him by the shoulders. "You have one last chance to tell me who you are before I take you in for a memory scan and robotisization," he hissed.

I didn't even have to think about the answer now. I already knew. "I'm a Freedom Fighter."

He glared and I glared back. "You remind me of someone...but I can't tell who. Swat Bot, take her to Memory Extraction."

"Yes Doctor Robotnic," it droned monotonously. I hated these damn things. And the fact it had a green stripe on its arm told me that he had already started firing these bad boys up again, probably by the dozens at least! Yeah, this was totally backfiring on me already.

It took me back through the doors we'd come in through and I kept an emotionless scowl plastered on my face. No way was I gonna let my fucking emotions ruin _two_ plans in a row! Instead, I just remained completely still, waiting for the right moment to strike. I didn't really know for sure whether robots had personalities or paranoia or anything, but I guess I was just kind of counting on the answer for which way I could go with the next step; violence, or sneakiness.

As it turned out, sneakiness might just be the best choice here; I was waiting until its path turned in a unknown corridor that didn't lead back to the prison room or whatever, since so far our little journey had been the same passages, and then I'd make a break for it to get all the prisoners out, including Peach of course. If it dropped its guard at any point, which it did approximately 2 minutes and 34 seconds after leaving Robotnic's chamber thing, I could hopefully just slip away and run for it. Otherwise my hammer would have had to make another grand appearance, which kind of pissed me off since I was so out of practice with it. It made me all worn out for a minute and jittery; I only used it when there was really no way around it.

I guess I was so ready when it was coming that I stiffened a little before the robot even made the final turn and changed its course away from the captivity cells. And I guess these things did have half a brain and enough knowledge to know that I was getting tense over it. So now I'd screwed up again before I even knew for sure that he was turning down the hall on the left instead of the right, which led straight from there until you got the the prison room thing and didn't take any of the other branching halls for the first 14. But whatever. All it did, if even because it noticed, was slow down a bit and change the way it was holding me to more around my shoulders (WHICH REALLY HURT SINCE THERE WASN'T ANY SKIN THERE!) instead of my waist. That might actually help with the escape since I was double jointed there, but it might be expecting that. Ah, what the hell? How can a freakin _robot_ EXPRECT_ anything?_

Whatever. The point is, when the wrong door opened, I was more than ready. I was ready before it happened; now I was playing on it. With one hard twist, I swung my legs up over my head and latched onto the robots shoulders, then pulled back down so that we both hit the floor. Thankfully, though, the several hundred pounds of metal landed next to me, instead of on top of. Without a missed step, I hopped back up as far from the machine as possible and just barely dodged its grabs for me before sprinting back out the closing door and across to the other one. The scanner on the door wouldn't allow me in, so I had to take out the hammer anyway and bang it down. Then I put it back away and sprinted faster than I ever had down the hall, counting every hallway I passed by on the way. After 14, I skidded to a stop and bashed the door on the right, leading me right into the prison room. But everyone was gone.

**8O O-M-G...**

**Cliiff haangeerr!**

**Sorry. I'm just that evil B} But seriously, thank you all so much for all the AMAZING reviews and support! I'm gonna start working on the next chapter right now! (or maybe not since I just got the new Gallagher Academy series book XDDD) but I really do want to update this quickly, like tomorrow or something even! And I promise to (unless distractions start playing dodge ball with me) update A-S-A-P if you will all review again! I was really happy with the increased feedback on the last chapter and I hope to see that happen again! :D**

**Thank you all so much for reading and, like I said, I can't wait to upload another chapter, so don't hold out on reviews here! :D Besides, I don't just read those Ally Carter books, I swallow them faster than a choco-peanut-butter/banana milkshake (I just had one of those; it was yummy :3) so even if I don't start writing again till its done, I'll probably be working on the chapter again by tonight. So anyway, love you guys, unless you don't review. Then I don't know you're even reading and therefore can't love you. So yess...REVIEW! (Because I have separation anxiety with readers and always need to be noticed) **

**Thanks and happy reviewing! (Or is it "comment"ing now? idk, it's dumb)**

**Vvvv Magical Happy Button vvvV**


	16. Daring Rescues

**No time to spell check and whatever, so forgive mistakes. I'm still shocked I was able to write this so quickly! :O Enjoy! :D**

I stopped short in spite of my adrenaline rush and it was about everything I could do not to crumple to my knees in shock. The room was empty. The prisoners were gone. And I was too late to save them. I was too late to save Peach. The hammer slipped away into nothing between my fingers and vanished into nothing again by the time it hit the floor. I had failed him.

I could go off and try to find the robotisizing chamber or whatever, but it was hopeless. The ship was huge and there was no way I'd be able to find it before it was too late. No. This couldn't be happening! _How_ could this happen? How could I let it! I had-I had promised him I'd always be there...to protect him.

My breath was caught in my throat for what must've been a long time, because I found my lungs caving in and started choking for air. My eyes were already burning and I started feeling my heartbeat not just in my chest but in my head and hands and arms and legs and toes and everywhere. I was already shaking from fear and anger and sadness. He was...gone. How. Could. This. Have. Happened?

I screamed out involuntarily, now practically daring that fat-assed bastard to come after me now. I wanted to see him. Be caught by him. Let him know who I was and either take his revenge or get my own. It didn't even fucking matter now! It was all over.

With a shaky hand, I removed the red-purple contacts from my eyes and almost instantly angry tears spilled out too. This was not happening. How could it be? Any second now I'd wake up in bed screaming and realize it was all a dream. All of it. We were still in our grubby little apartment in a city where no one cared and my dad didn't even know I existed. I was still alone, but at least Peach and I were alone together in this loveless little corner of hell.

But I didn't wake up. Because it wasn't a dream. This was life. And it was almost over. I'd probably never have the chance to wake up again. Did it matter, though? Did anything? Life is so fucked up like that; it makes you think that something matters and is important and then snatches it away from you as soon as you believe it. Well I'd had enough. This ends now.

Without even realizing it, the hammer re-materialized in my hand and felt heavier and realer than ever. Strong. Firm. Capable of some _real_ damage. The same creepy smile I'd used to scare off Robotnic earlier automatically reformed across my face I bit my lip as a few last tears snuck down my cheeks. I turned around to head back out the door but stopped short as I saw a figure in the door.

"Amy?" Sonic said quietly, sounding both stunned and relieved. "I've got her, guys," into his wrist-communicator. "Come on, we've got to get off the ship now or-" he reached out a hand for me, but I wasn't going anywhere without a fight.

Before he realized that I wasn't going with him, I had slipped around him in the doorway and was sprinting back down the hall I had come down from Robotnic's "Observation Dock" or whatever he had called it. I guess epinephrine doesn't really coexist in the same world as common sense, so I momentarily forgot about Sonic's ridiculous speediness. Within the same moment he realized I had taken off he was jogging beside me and easily matching the pace without breaking a sweat.

"Hey, wait just a second! Amy, we have to get off the ship now or-"

"NO!" I literally screamed in his face, which seemed to stop him for a second. But by the time I turned back forward, he was standing in front of me, blocking my path. I stopped for long enough to hold the hammer out like a barricade between us as I got closer. He took a step closer as I tried to get around him without being within reach in the too small hallway. "I don't want to hurt you, Sonic," I muttered as threateningly as I could while getting past him and then took off again.

This time I didn't even get more than five feet away before he grabbed me around the waist and held me in place. His grip was too strong; I wasn't able to slip out without hitting or flipping him, which I really didn't want to have to do.

"I don't want to hurt you either."

"YOU CAN'T!" I screamed again and started to struggle, hoping it would throw him off enough to get away.

"You're right. I can't. Please don't make me have to, okay?" he lifted me off the floor for long enough to tie my legs between his ankles so I couldn't struggle and pinned both of my arms to my said tentatively by my wrists. I had to admit, he was good at being firm but gentle at the same time. "Let go of the hammer," his voice was another example. It left no room for arguments but still sounded deep and caring.

"I-I can't go." I chocked out and he gave my wrist a squeeze in this pressure point or something that made me let go of the hammer and it disappeared into the floor, since my concentration wasn't on it leaving a dent or a hole or something.

"We have to get off now. It's okay; we're just gonna-" and then he made the mistake of starting to move.

"NO!" I screamed again and started fighting him again. I had to admit, I felt really bad when I saw his face, a mixture of frustration and...pain I guess you could call it, but not enough to stop me.

I guess that was about all he could just sit back and take, because at that moment his hold on me changed. In one swift moment he changed the position to holding me bridal style, only one hand had my wrists tied together to my side and his other arm wrapped all the way around my legs to keep me from kicking him. That didn't stop me from kicking and screaming, though, the whole time he ran back down the hallway the same way I'd come in from the entrance in the first place.

"Sonic, NO! I can't leave yet! NO! STOP NOW!"

"Amy, quit struggling! We've got it under control; the ship's going to blow up in about 30 seconds and we have to get out of here!"

"NO! You can't do that!"

"It's too late. Everything's in place already and-"

"NO!"

"Ow! Stop fighting, damn it!" Now he was getting tired of this. I hadn't meant to elbow him in the stomach so hard though.

I bit my lip really hard and exchanged the struggling against him for just shaking with anxiety and fear. Seriously, I'd never been this shaken in my life. Peach was gone. I hadn't been able to save him. And then I'd fought Sonic when he'd only been trying to help. The adrenaline rush was over and I was shoved back into reality. Thank you, universe. I totally missed it here. But the gravity of the thoughts smashing me so hard so fast caused tears to start falling from my face again.

I continued to quiver in his arms until we got to the loading dock and he jumped ship, landing only a few feet lower on the wing of an elite little plane, one I'd recognized Tails to drive very often.

"Are you okay?" he asked once he had gained his footing and sat down on his knees.

"No," I murmured inaudibly.

"What?" he asked, leaning a little closer. And that's when the entire giant ship blew up.

"NO!" This time I screamed it at the top of my lungs and struggled to get away while he was caught off guard. Sonic did, however, catch me just before I could jump off the plane and knocked on the glass of the seated area.

Tails opened it and Sonic dragged me in, trying to hold me still in his lap until the top had closed again over us. If I wasn't so freaked out, I might have been noticing things that would calm me down and reassure me about the Freedom Fighters. Like how almost all of the giant robots had been shut down and the rest were about to b smashed as chunks of the giant air craft fell from the sky. I might've noticed that most of the fire was already gone and that they had a bunch of planes circling what was left and spraying the area to protect against the rest.

I would've noticed that they _did_ have things under control, but I didn't. Because I was still freaking out. I was struggling and yelling and crying hysterically and logic wasn't any part of me right now. But Sonic, being the nicest, sweetest, best person on Mobius, didn't yell at me to stop or sedate me or anything. He just held me so tightly that I literally couldn't get away and let me scream and cry and try to get away until I had worn myself out...which probably took about 10 minutes in the real world even though it felt like a few hours. But once I finally did get too tired to fight and yell, I just started crying and he turned his strong hold to a hug.

"It's okay, Amy. It's going to be okay now."

"No it won't," I half-whispered.

"It will, Amy. Everyone's safe and Robotnic isn't going to be bothering us for awhile now. He screwed up on something and we had the perfect opportunity to attack. Now his ship is destroyed and it'll take him quite awhile to rebuild."

"I distracted him," I admitted, trying to crack a smile after hearing the "everyone's safe" line, even though I was still shaken. I just hoped that included Peach.

"That was you? We wondered why so many of his robots shut down at once! Wait, he didn't figure out you were-"

"Disguise."

"Right. I probably wouldn't have recognized you if Knuckles hadn't told me about the whole hammer thing. But how'd you get him to shut down so many robots and everything all at once?"

"I told him the Swat Bots were bugged and about to rebel and the big ones had bombs in them."

That made Sonic laugh and I finally almost smiled through the tears still running down my face. "Well you did great, Amy."

I looked down as he said that. I hadn't done good enough to save Peach on my own. That's what I had gone in for in the first place. "Is-is Peach okay?" I finally forced myself to ask. I was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"What? Of course, Amy! Getting any prisoners out is always the first priority. We would never even get things ready to blow the ship up if we hadn't gotten everyone off."

"How come it was on a countdown when you were on then?" I asked, relief flooding over me that Peach was safe.

He sort of shrugged. "We didn't even know if you were on the ship at that point. In fact, we all figured you must've gotten away; capturing Amelia's daughter would be Robotnic's biggest accomplishment in awhile, and he's totally the gloating type. We figured if he had you we'd all know by now, and we didn't, so..." he cringed a little. "As far as anyone knew, you weren't even on the ship anymore. I was only on doing one last sweep while it counted down, but then I found you."

I nodded once. What if he hadn't found me? Or if I hadn't been on the ship in the first place? I wonder what would've happened.

"You okay now?" he asked and I nodded again and he kind of sighed before turning his attention to Tails, who had been focused on driving the plane this whole time. "Alright, Tails, autopilot and turn on the lights. Let's see the damage."

Tails, in the cockpit, pressed a few buttons and turned around towards us as the lights flicked on. He kind of squinted and made a weird face as Sonic sat me upright on the edge of his knees so they could both get a good look at me.

"Yikes. What'd you do? Jump a motorcycle?" Tails asked, cringing a little.

"Are you psychic?" I asked.

"You did not!" Sonic said and I nodded. "Why the hell would you do that? That's so irrational and stupid!"

"Sonic, don't scold. You know as well as me she'll be getting an earful from Knuckles, even if we could patch her up before he sees her."

"Not to mention Blake," Sonic agreed sighing.

"But still, why would you do that?"

"Because they did it on TV and it looked fun," I couldn't have said that more sarcastically if I tried. "Because there was two tons of metal coming out of nowhere and blocking my path and it was either tuck and roll or smash myself."

"Ew," Tails said and made another face. He was very good at strange facial expressions.

I shrugged, trying to convince them it was no big deal that my arms were more or less bare other than a few now forming scabs. Sonic didn't seem convinced, not that Tails did either, and cautiously took one of my arms by the wrist and held it out for examination. I sat still and complied; I was still very shaky, but mainly because it would take a while for me to calm down after all the events that had occurred.

"It's not deep, so that's good. There's a little asphalt ground in, I can see, but I think some peroxide and a few bandages is all you'll need," Sonic deduced and Tails nodded in agreement, turning back to the plane to fly manually now.

"Okay," I agreed and was surprised to see Tails hand him a first aid kit from the front. Great, so now he was gonna do this on the plane? Faboo-lus. Not.

He scooted me off his lap and onto the seat next to him, then placed a towel across my legs. My right arm was first, positioned over the towel to catch the peroxide that dripped off, and he poured a good amount on quickly, I guess hoping that doing it quick would make it hurt less. It didn't. The second the cold liquid flowed across my open-wounded arm I felt it stinging and burning and throbbing all together and I had to bite my lip to not yell. But it only got worse as it started sinking in to clean out the deeper parts.

Nothing lasts forever, of course, but even after it was done and wiped off, both arms throbbed. There were several Ace bandages in the kit, but we just cut one in half, since my arms were short enough and it was long enough to wrap about eight times otherwise.

"Everything set?" Tails asked while Sonic was securing the last part in place.

"We're good. Not the best job, of course, but Knuckles will probably insist on a thorough inspection anyway, so we don't want him destroying the final product," Sonic answered.

"Alright. We're headed home then." he had been circling and patrolling the fire area since we had gotten there, probably wanting to give me time to calm down before putting me back with the crowd. Tails was sweet like that. He radioed the others and then set a course towards the cabin.

"I have a question," I began.

"Shoot," Sonic said.

"How come Knuckles is so..." how did I word this... "overprotective of me?"

"Good one. Well, I guess we all kind of feel that way with your mom and everything. And you're exactly like her, I'm sure you've heard...well, without the whole disguise thing, but usually you are. That contributes a lot, since no one wants to see you get hurt like her," he seemed to be holding out on me.

"But Knuckles in specific," I started, "why does he seem the worst? Like my dad or even worse."

Sonic sighed. I'd gotten him. "He...he used to have this job. I'm sure you've heard of Angel Island, the floating place?" I nodded. "Well it was always kept afloat by this thing called the Master Emerald, which has pretty much limitless power. It was partly his job to guard it, like this ancient echidna cult thing or whatever."

"Sure," I said on his pause.

"Well...it didn't work out well. His sister, Tikal...she was captured by some ancient spirit thing of the emerald, and keep in mind I'm just explaining this the best I can, since I don't know all the details."

"Okay."

"When she was captured...and killed, Knuckles kinda went into...panic mode. He became irresponsible and was almost responsible for the destruction of their whole clan thing. Needless to say, he wasn't allowed to guard the emerald anymore. He left Angel Island and joined us, but he's still got some inner issues with that. I guess when you came along...you reminded him a lot of Tikal and he was determined to protect you better than he had her."

"Wow," I whispered. I'd had no idea!

"Yeah. That was a few years ago and he's moved on for the most part, but still...I can understand why he'd feel so protective of you. I guess he just needed someone all along to protect and you seemed like the perfect candidate. It left a gap in his life and...you kind of filled that in for him."

"I get it," I said, nodding. Who knew Knuckles had been through so much? "Thanks for explaining though."

"No prob."

We landed in the driveway, just where the trees started, and Sonic helped me out of the plane. The yard was now full of tents and a few fires so it now looked like the Freedom Fighters' camp, only with a cabin in the middle, and all the people kept filtering in and out of the house. The inside wasn't much unlike the camp either with the living room set up like the control center and a bunch of groups discussing and recapping the events.

"We're in the kitchen," Sonic said and led me past the people. Tails had been sucked into a group already to discuss a few aspects of the plot, leaving the two of us alone in the crowd as we squeezed past people and to the kitchen.

Almost everyone from the picnic was there, with Sonia and Manic talking to Vanilla, Vector and Elias near the fridge. My Dad was wrapped up in a conversation with Aleena near the counters and I could see Cream, Charmy, and Peach talking and playing quietly through the door to the dining room. They paused what they were doing and turned our way as Sonic and I stepped into view. And their reaction was enough to tell how they felt.

My dad's eyes widened as he saw my "new look", and several of the other adults looks said sympathy or shock. Peach scrutinized me for a second before he even recognized who I was.

"M-May-me?" he asked.

I nodded and tried to smile. "Hi guys."

**80 Amy's in trouuuble! jk, idk yet how they're all going to react! XD I****'ll have to write it to find out, which I'll do as soon as I get some reviews! Thanks for getting me some quick feedback; it really helped! :D But don't expect one every day; I just really felt like writing this weekend. Keep in mind, though, that this is my last week of summer break that I'm not busy, so review and lets see how many chapters I can do this week! ;D**

**OMG, just thought I'd mention that I personally loved my Knuckles back-story thing, even if it was kinda sad. I made it all up though, so copyright is MINE! lol XD**

**Review! Or comment...in the box that used to be a button until fanfiction got paranoid and self conscious and got plastic surgery to confuse us all! XP jk, but still give feedback. Thanks! :D**


	17. Warm Welcomes

"Oh. My. God." my father grit his teeth in an obvious attempt to keep his head from exploding. Peach practically transported to my side, throwing his little arms around me and burying his head in my side, squeezing with surprising strength for someone his side. "There's a...you...how do I...Oh my God!"

"Daddy, those aren't complete thoughts." Wait, why was I being a smart ass? Damn! Turn off the cocky mode; you're in deep shit now, Amy.

"Yeah," he cleared his throat and blinked in a feeble attempt to make his eyes smaller than bowling balls. He took a deep breath and moved a little closer to me to speak low and me still hear him. "I...I don't know how I feel about all this right now...how I'm supposed to feel. I'm, shocked, most of all, terrified, happy, grateful you're alive, angry, and...proud. I don't know. Just...never do something like this again. Never be so irrational like that; I...I thought I'd lost you too. I can't cope with that."

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't...mean to cause so much trouble. I'd tell you I don't know what I was thinking, but that wouldn't be entirely true. I wasn't thinking. Not about anything but getting in and helping. I'm sorry."

He took a much longer breath out than he had in, don't ask me how, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know." and then he hugged me. Peach was still clinging to me like a leach, so he got squashed in the middle. He didn't mind. "You're still in trouble, though. We'll talk about it later, but enjoy tonight; it may be your last one in freedom for awhile."

I cracked a smile as he leaned away from me. I then turned my focus to Peach, who had backed away enough to look up at me. "Why do you look so different?"

"I'm in disguise. I had to do this so no one would recognize me."

He crinkled his nose a little. I don't like it. You don't look like May-me."

I almost laughed at that one; it made me smile at least. "Me neither. Don't worry, though; it's not forever."

"What about the hair?" Manic asked.

I shrugged and tried not to blush. "I have no idea if it was permanent or what...it was a rush job."

"I'll take care of that for you in a little while. I know how to get that gunk out; just wait till things die down and there's not so many people here." Sonia offered and I nodded, giving her a smile.

"Okay, I guess we're all good here. Now all that's left is handling Knucklehead. You can face him now, or wait a little while first."

"I guess now to get it over with," I told Sonic, who nodded knowingly. "Help me?"

"You're on your own with him. He's up on the deck. Call if it gets violent though; I'd like to see that."

"Gee, thanks." I took a deep breath and decided to go before I lost my nerve. It was now or never, in that sense.

I pushed by the others and to the kitchen stairs that led to a little balcony halfway between here and the attic. It was kind of strangely built onto the side of the house where there wasn't really a floor, but it was a nice place to go and think. I could understand why he'd have gone there. I found him leaning against the rails, turned away from me. I watched him take a slow drag on a smoking cigarette and came up quietly behind him.

"I didn't know you smoked," I said, leaning on the rail next to him.

"Usually don't. You know Rogue? She got me to try it once but I never really got into it." he made a face of disgust and dropped the rolled paper, stomping it out on the deck. Then he turned to me, flinching back as he met my eyes. "Holy shit! What happened?"

"You like the new look?" I gestured to myself, no traces of amusement in my voice or on my face.

"Absolutely not. What the fuck did you do?"

"What, you think I was gonna walk in there undisguised? I'm not completely idiotic, you know?"

"Could've fooled me," his voice was bitter and stinging. It was supposed to be. I deserved it right now. I sighed and leaned against the rail next to him. I couldn't apologize; I knew it was probably just piss him off. He'd tell me to save it and I'd regret saying anything. "Why, Amy?" he asked after a long pause. "Why would you do something so reckless?"

"For the same reason you came after me. And the same reasons you had after Tikal was captured. It's not irrational; it natural. I was in panic mode and...if you don't understand that then-"

"No, I get it," he sighed and let his face fall into his hands, rubbing little circles in his temples. He didn't question how I knew about Tikal; that was good. I didn't want to rat on Sonic 20 minutes after he'd told me the story.

"I'm sorry, Knux. I really didn't mean to do all that, just...you know. Protective instincts."

"Yeah, I get it. Even if you know everything's gonna be alright..."

"You have to see it to believe it."

"And what you did actually did help a lot, just...never do it again. Not until you have more training and Intel about these situations. If you've _got_ to be part of it, at least do it the right way."

"Promise." he smiled and looked up at me.

"Okay, now, let me see your arms."

"There, see? All good," I said, giving him a quick glimpse of just the bandage.

"Nice try; take that off. It's a pretty bad wrap anyway," he insisted.

"Have I mentioned how tired I am? Huh, adrenaline crash and all that, you know? I think I'll just-" I was unable to just pull away and leave, since he had take a firm grip on my shoulder with one hand and had the other poised and ready to take off the bandage.

"Now, you can either tell me what happened now, or after I see. Which will it be?"

I sighed. He was good. "I had to, uh...jump the motorcycle so I wouldn't run into a robot."

"Yeesh. And your arms took the full blow?" I didn't have time to answer as he unwrapped my arms without any further permission. "Jeez, Amy! It has a break, you know?"

"Yeah but it doesn't stop on a dime; especially if you're doing 80 in a 30 zone!" Now why had I said _that_ aloud? He just face palmed, trying to keep cool.

"Okay. Whatever. Just...ugh. Never mind. It's pointless. Has your dad seen it?"

"No."

"Lucky you. I'm feeling really generous, so I won't parade you downstairs to show off your gruesome new scars."

"Gee, Knuckles, you're the best!" I fake giggled and he rolled his eyes.

"But I'm not gonna hide you, and we do have to go back down through the kitchen."

"Aw, and you couldn't have told me before I almost hugged you?"

"Come on then; let's go before you start gushing blood or something. I'll jinx it if I say it's not as bad as I figured, which does NOT mean you're okay."

"Yeah, whatever," I rolled my eyes and followed willingly so he wouldn't have to drag me down.

Ten minutes later, my arm was bandaged "properly" and was throbbing from all the peroxide and cleansing ointment that had been lathered onto it. While Knuckles was playing doctor, my dad found time to squeeze in about half of his lecture on the irresponsibility of taking such a dangerous leap. And furthermore-blah blah blah.

With all the commotion of the dwindling crowds swarming our house, my stinging arm, Peach practically bouncing by my side yelling at Knuckles to "be caywfuw!" and "make May-me's awm bettew!", since his previous toddler accent seemed to return slightly when in a panic, my dad's speech, and the occasional other visitors drifting by to see what was going on, it would've been really easy to tune one or everything out and just go into a thought coma. The only problem is, I knew I deserved this. And it wasn't all that bad.

For example, the whole time my dad was speaking, I honestly felt more happy than ashamed. I know it was wrong what I had done, and with my inward reaction some may have just called it a cry for attention, but...it felt nice. Not just for him to notice me, but to care about my general well-being. It was a lot to take in, but I was ready now.

…

"May-me, I don't wanna go to sleep," Peach complained. He was too smart for the classic "I'm not tired" routine. He'd learned already not to lie to me when his obvious exhaustion was so evident. But it was about 2:30 am already, since the chaos hadn't died down until 2, and the day was wearing heavily on his eye lids already.

I sat down on the side of his bed, in the attic right next to mine, and sighed, speaking in a quiet, soothing voice. "Why don't you wanna go to sleep?"

"Because I'm scared."

"A lot's happened today, huh?"

"Mhm. I'm scared that if I go to sleep, something else will happen and I won't even know. I was so scared when I got captured by the mean man. And then when I was rescued, no one knew where you were; I don't want something else to happen," he voice became less tense and more tired as he let out some of the stress by talking.

"I was scared too, Peach. I was scared you were gone, but that's why I went to find you, though. I had to be brave so I could make sure you were alright."

"How did you be brave, May-me? Even though you were scared?"

"Because I have you to be brave for."

"I have you to be brave for too," Peach said, his eyes beginning to blink more and more slowly.

"That's true. So you've gotta be brave for me and get some sleep now, okay? Things will be better in the morning; it's all over now, okay?"

He nodded and finally closed his eyes, snuggling into the blankets. "Night night, May-me."

I gently kissed his forehead. "Goodnight Peach."

And then there was silence. I smiled; it must be nice to fall asleep so easily. Peach could just take a deep breath to calm himself and he was immediately out. I, on the other hand, would be lucky to get any sleep with my mind running wild as it was. I'm sure I'd be getting in plenty of catnaps after my dad decided on how long I would be under house arrest; I could make up for it later. Now, however, I was going to use the quiet to try to get my bearings and cover my thoughts.

I climbed up on the roof through the window, making sure not to make a single sound, and laid back against the rough shingles. It was so beautiful out here; just me and the stars and-

I gasped, trying to both keep from yelling and maintain my balance on the roof, as I saw that I wasn't alone. And, no, the stars weren't the only other ones there.

"Careful, Ames; you wanna break a leg too?" Sonic reached out and grabbed my arm to keep me from falling. Why was he up here? And why did he seem so casual about it?1!

"W-what are you-"

"Sh," he held a finger over his mouth to signify silence. "I hate it under a roof, don't you? There's just so much more space out here, if you'll excuse the pun," he smiled and gestured around us.

I couldn't help it; I smiled too. Damn it, how did he always make me smile? "Yeah, I know what you mean. I was thrilled when we first moved here, since I got my own roof," I giggled a little. Why was I so girly and dumb around him?

He nodded, understanding. "Not tired?"

"Way tired. No way I'd be able to sleep though."

"It'll happen. Want to be sleepily energized together?"

This time I wasn't gonna be won over by that squeaky girly voice in the back of my mind; I was keeping my cool. "Sure. You mean just hanging out up here?"

"That could work...or you could come with me."

"To where?"

"I was hoping you'd say that. Hold on tight and don't make a sound, okay?" he picked me up and I followed instructions. I'm not sure if it was the heads up in advance or just being exhausted, but jumping off the roof was more thrilling than terrifying this time. Once on the ground, we took off into the night.

**Yayy! I posted another chapter-nya! **

**Wow, I thought this story was gonna be short, but I'm already on chapter 17! It probably won't be too much longer, since I don't wanna keep stretching it until it's lost sight of the original plot, but I've still got a few more chapters to go-nya! ...And for those of you confused by my nya's, I've been watching WAY too much Shugo Chara. Oooh, but Ikuto is SOO hot****!1! I just can't stop! Lolz :P**

**Well, anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter, despite the cheesy cliche last sentence...whatever. Please continue to review as you have in the past and I will post the next installment at my next opertunity-nya! Thanks and goodbye for now!**

**...nya...I had to say it.**


	18. Finding New Beginnings in the End

**8'O O...M...G...**

**This is the LAST CHAPTER! I didn't even know that until I wrote it! Wah! I wish I would've had some warning! Stupid non-planning ahead-y brain! Grr, now I'm sad :( But I really like that ending and I'm hoping you guys will too. I just started writing it and 982 words later I realized it was the end...and a very short chapter. So I went back and added a first half, just to throw in a little extra Sonamy fluff before it came to a close. But yeah...wow. Another story ending. Never expected that to happen tonight...**

**Anyway, thanks so much for all the support and feedback I've gotten on this story; it really helps to encourage me to write and do the best I can for my loyal readers. I know this is the last chapter and I should've given you all some warning and all, and that some or most of you won't review because you're not getting your next update in return for it, but I'd still really appreciate hearing from you all one last time after this chapter. **

**I just want to tell you all thanks for reading my story and I'm so glad that you have stayed with me this far. I love you guys and you're all what makes this story worth writing. I'll miss you all so much, especially if this is my last story/last Sonamy story for either now or ever. I don't know what the future holds for me as far as writing, but I do know that I will never forget a single story that I write and I will never forget to appreciate all the people reading and enjoying those stories. So thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy my final chapter. :')**

xxx

"First off," Sonic started as we raced through the thinning trees towards the lights of the street ahead. "My house. Not that you can't pull off the whole hair thing, but if we get you to Sonia now it'll be much less of a pain to get out. That's what she said, anyway."

"So did everyone but my dad know I'd be sneaking out tonight?"

"Nah, your dad probably knew too."

I scoffed a little as he stopped back in front of the big house from earlier. The whole in the sidewalk was gone, thank goodness, and everything looked normal. Like nothing had ever happened here.

"I suppose you never really got the grand tour earlier. Want me to show you around first or after your salon appointment?"

"Now's good if you want to."

"Sure thing," Sonic said, setting me down on the top step and taking my hand to lead me inside. He put on an exaggerated accent as he began his pointing out the room. "Thiis is the grand foyer, where we spend most of our time at home. Straight back there is the kitchen, fully stocked and at your complete access as requested."

He continued his tour down the hall off the the right. His parents' room was at one end of the hallway with the bathroom across from it. Off to the left of the living room was a large staircase, which Sonic dragged me up two steps at a time.

"Why so eager?" I had to ask, since I just about tripped over every step he was practically jumping over.

"Because we don't wanna run into my parents. It wouldn't be _bad_, per se, but it'll slow down the operation. Plus, up here is the fun part of the house anyway."

"Ah, now I see." I nodded, pretending I understood what he was talking about.

"Anyway," he started, pulling me straight down a hall off to the right. "This is where our bedrooms are. Mine is that one, with the overhanging window thing. Sonia's is closest to the bathroom, since she likes to invade first every morning. Manic has the biggest room that you can't see the floor in. He's a hoarder," Sonic added on a side note.

"Am not!" Manic called through a closed door.

"I was whispering; how did you hear that?!"

"Uh, security system. Duh!"

"He's also a spy-in-training...in his mind anyway." I giggled as Manic came out rolling his eyes.

"Whatever, bro. You know, you're just lucky I don't go all geeky on your girlfriend here," Manic teased.

"Don't you have a computer to bug or something?"

"Why yes I do," Manic harrumphed sarcastically before hopping off back down the hall.

"You can just ignore him for the most part. Anyway, lemme show you that grand finale of the house. It doesn't have a name though. Just 'The Chill Crib', as dubbed by Manic." Sonic rolled his eyes at the name and I had to resist the urge to laugh.

He took me back down the hall and through a makeshift door, really just four rows of curtained entry ways, across from the stair case. Inside was pretty much the definition of a teenage hangout spot. There were two platformed mattresses against each other and acting as a large couch up against the back corner. A big round chair sat on the same back wall to the left of the entrance and was filled with bean bags, pillows, and blankets, none of which seemed to match.

There was a window on the wall across from us that had, by the looks of it, been painted, repainted, and graffiti-ed all over with dry erase markers countless times now. There were black curtains on it, pulled back to reveal slightly broken neon orange blinds. On the wall to our right, the front of the room, was a huge entertainment station, stocked to the brim with movies and video games of all genres. It had a flat screen TV, several different game consoles, and a few miscellaneous pictures or papers.

There was a desk to the side of the TV stacked with all manner of...well, junk, from the looks of it. Three laptops sat in a stack off to the side next a jumble of cords and chargers, none of which looked to be independent of the others. Basically, it was a perfect example of organized chaos, because the desk looked anything but neglected, despite its messy nature.

I found myself smiling at the overall...well, coolness of the room. I could only imagine how many hangouts or slumber parties had taken place right here. It was kind of neat to be a part of that, even if it was just reminiscing on the rooms past.

I stepped farther inside with Sonic and felt the carpet beneath my feet. It was soft and plushie, like more of a blanket than a floor. The floor was a dark blue, but looked faded and worn, giving it an even comfier vibe. The walls seemed less faded with their fresh light green, like a cucumber color, that made the whole room just a little more...clean feeling. Especially after they flicked on the lights and the room lit up to be even more visible, since up until that moment the only light had been from a few strings of lights on the far wall.

"Whoa," I smiled. The room was so modest and understated...but that just made it even greater!

"Hah, I know, right?"

"This is so cool! Is this like, the party room or whatever?"

"Pretty much. We all probably spend more time here than our rooms. One time we all camped out in here for a whole week during fall break. We left the room for virtually nothing...but then we were zombies the next week at school."

I laughed at that. "That's hilarious!"

"Amy! Sonic! It's about time you got here!" Sonia said, having appeared in the room from behind us. "Come on; let's get you fixed up and then we can chill, okay?" I nodded and followed her back down the hallway and to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, my hair had been soaked, brushed, soaked again, trimmed, washed, and dried. Finally back to its normal light pink, I pulled it into a high ponytail, a very short one at that, and thanked Sonia for her fashion aid.

"No problem. Oh, and you might wanna change clothes; those are wet and...well, awful. No offense though."

"None taken," I giggled. I hadn't even realized I was still in my ripped and bloody disguise clothes.

"Here, try these on. They're kind of old and worn out, but they should fit you fine," she said, taking me into her room, which was just as neat as I would've guessed, and pulling some sweats and a tank top from the back of a drawer.

"Okay, thanks."

The clothes fit alright, though Sonia was a little taller than me, so the pants came past my ankles a bit, and were really comfy. They had that nice, 'been worn a thousand times' feel to them, which I could really appreciate after such a long day.

After that, we both joined Sonic and Manic in the "Chill Crib", where they were playing video games while they waited for us. They finished their round and switched it over to a movie. Apparently, this was all planned in advance, since there was already popcorn, chips, soda and pizza...even though it was almost 4 am. No one complained, though. We all just enjoyed the action/thriller in comfort, having spread out the blankets and pillows and claimed our spots.

Xxx

I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but I do know that I only slept for about an hour, since it was still dark out when my long-blink-like nap came to an end. I had fallen asleep on Sonic's shoulder as we leaned against the wall, tucked all the way in one corner. Sonia was fast asleep on the round chair, curled up in a way that looked like it _couldn't_ be comfortable, but she was snoozing just the same. Manic snored quietly while stretched between the couch bed and the floor, again, uncomfortable looking, but satisfied just the same.

Sonic was awake. His eyes were closed, but only lightly, and a soft smile spread across his lips. I could only tell he was awake because of the way his hand was moving slowly and gently, stroking and curling my hair around his fingers. I shifted slightly, trying to subtly let him know I was awake without forcing him back into consciousness if he was nearly asleep too.

"Morning already?" he whispered. His was soft and rough with sleep, the combined characteristics making it sound really sexy somehow.

"Guess so," I replied as his eyes opened to meet my gaze. "Too early to get up though."

"Not if we've still got things to do before you're sentenced to a lifetime of house arrest. You up for our last detour, or wanna save it?"

I didn't have to think for too long. "Let's go."

**...**

"Sonic," I started, trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness. "Where are we?"

I didn't even need to see to know he was smirking; I could hear it in his chuckle. "Guess."

Damn. He could never be straightforward, could he? That would make life too simple. I rolled my eyes. The truth is, though, I'm really thankful he hadn't told me what the place was. If he had, I wouldn't have known the significance of it; the ability of some memories to withstand acknowledgment even through death.

I followed him unknowingly into the seemingly insignificant building. It looked like a big brick school house that had been abandoned for quite some time from the outside, but, as I'd already figured out even by then, looks can be deceiving. I felt a chill wash over me as we stepped inside into an even darker place.

"Okay, I'm gonna turn the light on now," Sonic's voice said, echoing from the other side of the room. I'm not sure when he had left my side. "One...two...three" and with that, the entire room lit up so brightly I had to shield my eyes for a moment. The lights flickered at first but then turned to a steady drone of luminescence.

I blinked my eyes open and adjusted to the lighting of the room...and then adjusted my breathing to catch up with the involuntary missed breaths. Though the outside looked decrepit and unused, the inside was spotless and gorgeous! Not a smudge or speck of dust anywhere on the alabaster walls, nor scuff across the light caramel colored hardwood floors. In the back were two rooms, doors closed tightly, and a staircase up to a small platform, only big enough for one or two people when used correctly.

I could have closed my eyes after the first glance around the room and still told exactly how it looked. I could have know that the two rooms were sound booths and that the platform was equipped with just about the best quality microphone set you could find. I could've told you without looking that there were three rows of chairs facing towards us and how many were in each row, each with its own music stand, and that there were four long benches is two neat rows facing them.

I knew without looking that there were instrument cases of all shape and variety behind the chairs and against the back wall. There was a percussion section set up to the back right corner facing in to blend with the other sounds around it when they were played. And I walked without even seeing or noticing to the back left, where there sat the magnificent grand piano.

Flashes of my dream drifted in and out of my vision as I walked. The people, frozen in place with their instruments, the sounds that I couldn't hear but knew were still there, the glaring lights, the slick floor...and a younger version of my father standing right up at the front.

Before I even realized it, I was sitting at the piano bench, stretching my fingers in preparation for the upcoming melody. Sonic stood where my father had many years ago, the same expression on his face. Excitement, anticipation, inner sanctity, and...love. It was all right there. But then the next flash came to my mind.

No sound...

What if it didn't work? What if there wasn't a sound? How could I...what would I do if it was all so beautiful...but empty? A lost cause.

"Sometimes," Sonic's words shocked me out of my trance, "it's okay to do something that seems pointless. Being in the Freedom Fighters so long...I've learned that you don't always win. Sometimes you don't even stand a chance! But...if you just keep fighting, even though it's hopeless and all in vain, you might find something better. If you let go of the nothing..."

"The outcome will be worth it..." I finished, again feeling my blood run cold up from my toes to my head.

He gave a knowing smile and nodded. "Exactly."

And that was it. I took a slow, deep breath, readied my fingers above the keys, and played. And the sound was gorgeous.

Just a few notes at first; nothing special. Soon enough, though, those notes joined in with others, becoming a melody. My left hand slid away and started playing a harmonic accompaniment with it and soon enough...the nothing did disappear. And it become the beautiful lullaby I'd always wanted to have heard before. The one that _I_ never had heard, much less played, but had know for longer than a life time.

_Forever Yours_

I don't know if I had said the words or was just hearing them, but they reverberated off the walls just like the room was built for them to. The words that had been locked away in my heart for some time now, where the only key to get them out was this song. My mother's song.

Tears fell unto the keys as I played, but I don't even remember crying them. Like the song and the words and the dream, they had come on their own. And now, like the understanding. The knowledge came and the pain all left. The confusion and frustration and fear had all gone and I was left feeling refreshed and renewed; nowhere left to look but forward. And it was a relief. I felt light and breezy, like I could dance to my own songs all night and never be dragged back down to the ground. Like I could fly away from the now so distant past and be free to live in the now. And go into the future.

That was the end. The only story left after that...I'm still waiting to find out.

...


End file.
